Titans, Ghouls and Prey
by howlingyaoiking437
Summary: What would happen if Kaneki and Touka were thrown into the world of attack on titan, set just after Touka and Kaneki's fight but before anteiku falls I own nothing, rated M for language and blood later on
1. Prologue

He opened his eyes, expecting to see the same ceiling he always awoke to, with Tsukiyama or Banjou making coffee or just idly chatting in the other room. Instead, he awoke to a clear sky, clearer than any he had ever seen before, had the others left him outside as a prank or something? Looking around, he found his answer surrounding him was not the busy city of Tokyo, but a large field, a green landscape covering the land for miles around with not a single person in sight, save one. Around three feet behind him, curled up and sleeping was his dear friend, Kirishima Touka, her mask lying next to her. To say this came as a shock to young Kaneki Ken is an understatement, he had not expected to see her, least of all here, wherever here was.

Shaking her awake seemed to be the best course of action, hopefully she could provide some insight as to where they were. Unfortunately she seemed as clueless as him, given that her first words after looking around were…

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

After giving Touka a moment to calm down and take a moment to consider their situation, from a safe distance, mind you, Kaneki began to speak. "I don't know where we are either but we should probably start moving, we're not going to find much out standing around here"

"Agreed, let's head over that way, it smells like people over there" Touka agreed, walking off towards the smell of people, not even looking at Kaneki.

"Right" he sighed out as he began to follow after his friend.

* * *

After about 3 hours of walking in silence, the pair of ghouls came across what they were looking for, a city. But this city was different from any city that either of them had ever seen, it was old, as if they had stepped back in time. The houses looked Tudor, or at least mock-Tudor, the people were dressed in plain-simple clothing. Seeing this, Kaneki looked at his and Touka's current clothing, he was wearing his black fitted body suit with cutouts that he wore when fighting, while Touka was wearing her Anteiku uniform. Any way you looked at it, they would stick out like sore thumbs, and wearing their masks certainly wouldn't help.

"Wait here, I'll go grab us some clothes" Kaneki spoke calmly as he began to walk towards the city until he felt something tugging on the back of his clothes…

"You mean you're going to leave me here while you go and steal some clothes?" Touka spoke calmly, but she was clearly irritated

Kaneki sighed "You're right, that is what I want to do, but you're not going to let me do that, are you?"

"No chance, if you're going, so am I" Touka stated matter of factly

"Fine, try to keep up" he began to walk ahead

"Who do you think you're talking to, Bakaneki?" Touka spat out as she followed him

* * *

The pair of ghouls ran through the city, grabbing what clothes they could carry and continued running, Touka running ahead by a few metres, eager to show how capable she was, with Kaneki following, making sure he didn't lose her. They ended up being chased by a group of soldiers that were flying through the skies with wires, it was certainly an interesting sight to behold. It took fifteen minutes of running for the two ghouls to lose their pursuers, hiding out in an alley, they could finally take stock of their 'loot'. They had both picked pretty similar stuff; a pair of plain black trousers and a white shirt, however Kaneki picked up a book as well titled "The History Of The Walls" Apparently wherever they were didn't have ghouls eating them, but giant naked monsters called titans.

"These titans don't sound like ghouls" Touka observed as she read through the book

"Yeah, they don't mention having kagune's and I don't think I've heard of any ghouls over 6ft tall let alone 15 metres"

"But it's quite possible that we are similar, after all the CCG described ghouls as cannibalistic monsters incapable of any emotion"

"If that's the case, we should investigate"

"How do you propose we do that?"

"How do you think? We join the military"

"Isn't that rather risky?" Touka doubted Kaneki's plan

"Not really, the military is on guard for titans, not ghouls"

And so the pair of ghouls went and signed up for the military, to join the 104th training corps.


	2. Welcome

The ghouls were able to join the military with no problems, save Kaneki being given weird looks due to his white hair. They were guided to a small cabin where the recruits were to stay, the two sat down on the end of a long bench and observed the people, people from everywhere; Japan, England, Germany, you name it. Neither of them had ever seen such a diverse group of people in their lives, but there were a few individuals that stood out, to them at least, a boy with green eyes and brown hair, a bulky blonde-haired man, his tall friend, a small blonde girl with a cold stare and a freckled girl who looked rather intimidating, they had a certain smell about them, it was strange, not human yet not even slightly like a ghoul's scent, it was sort of alluring, sweet was the only word that came to mind. Nobody else seemed to notice it but the two ghouls.

A soldier came into the room and handed out uniforms, they were rather "snug" as Kaneki put it. "It can't be helped, they're just guessing at our sizes" spoke a large blonde-haired guy as he was trying to squeeze into a uniform that clearly didn't accommodate for someone as bulky as him, it was rather amusing

"It still sucks!" spoke a smaller boy, considerably scrawnier than the first, both boys had the strange scent on them, but they didn't seem to notice, if they did, they were hiding it exceptionally well

After a quick tutorial on how to salute and basic soldierly conduct, and a rather boring session where the drill instructor yelled at those who seemed weak, they were ordered back to the little dorms.

A large group had gathered around one boy, the scrawny, green-eyed boy from earlier, apparently his name was Eren and he had survived a titan attack when he was a child. He was being questioned vehemently about the Colossal Titan that broke through the walls.

"Just how big was it?"

"Big enough to poke its head over the walls"

"I heard it stepped over the wall completely"

"I heard that in my village too"

"Same here"

Touka really hated escalating rumours, it was part of the reason ghouls had such a hard time back home, so she drowned out the mindless babble of the other cadets and focussed on Eren's retelling his story.

"What about the Armoured Titan that broke through Wall Maria?"

"That's what they're calling it? It looked like any other titan to me" he was clearly trying to sound cool

"And what's an average titan like?" at this Eren seemed to freeze up, he stopped eating and he covered his mouth, terror covering his face momentarily before shifting into a cocky grin

"Titan's aren't that big of a deal, once we master the ODM (omni-directional mobility) gear, they won't stand a chance. I'll join the Survey Corps and exterminate all titans from this world" this struck a cord in Kaneki and Touka; they had heard these kinds of speeches before, just swap out a few words. Their ODM = Quinque, the Survey Corps = the CCG, titans = ghouls. It was sickening to listen to; the two ghouls had no choice but to leave, save they be driven insane by that guy mouthing off.

The two ghouls calmly left the building and began to walk to nowhere in particular, after a while they found themselves at a well. "I guess since there are people like that here too" Kaneki spoke quietly, not wanting to aggravate his companion

"Yeah, I really hate these kinds of people. All they can think is that what they're doing is justice when it's just revenge. It pisses me off!" Touka spat out

"Oh? Why does that piss you off?" Kaneki turned his back to Touka, not wanting her to see his face

"Why else, they're just being ignorant and not thinking about the harm they bring about with their stupid quest for vengeance!"

"Is that it? Or is it because they remind you of yourself?" Kaneki's voice was cold and quiet

"Just what are you saying?" Touka enquired, hostile intent clear in her voice. If he wasn't careful, Kaneki's next words could be his last.

"Remember what happened with Mrs Fueguchi? How you went on your own little quest for vengeance? How you killed those doves?" that hit a nerve, Touka almost activated her kakugan in her rage. Before she could respond or lash out at him, he spoke again. "It's something to think about, it's not like I did anything back then" his voice was calm but Touka could hear the slight sadness in voice

"I'm going to head to the dorms first, see ya" he walked away, leaving Touka alone under the night sky

"Bakaneki" she muttered _"I know that, idiot! I know that already!"_ she yelled internally, he was right, she knew that but she couldn't just accept that, instead she just pushed him further away. _"Not again"_

"And what about you? Your hair is way too long for using the ODM gear?!" Touka heard a loud voice heading in her direction

"I'll cut it, then" a calmer, softer voice spoke

"Yeah you do tha-oh there's someone here" the first voice spoke as they came into view, why did it have to be this guy? The revenge-hungry guy from earlier.

Touka sighed, stood up and began walking away from the well they clearly wanted to use, until she felt a pull on her arm.

"Why are you just walking away, isn't that rude?!" Eren scolded, he sounded like he was picking a fight. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? She hadn't done anything wrong, she just didn't want to be involved with him.

"Let go" she warned him coldly, wanting nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible

Instead of letting go of her, she felt a second hand gripping onto her arm, considerably stronger than the first. Looking down she saw the girl who he was speaking to was now gripping her arm with a considerable amount of force, while her other hand rested on Eren's. At her touch he seemed to calm down considerably, _"I guess they know each other well"_ Touka reasoned.

"I'm sorry, I got mad unnecessarily. Thanks Mikasa" he spoke much more calmly than before, all traces of hostility gone completely

"It's no problem" Touka accepted his apology

"I'm Eren Yaeger and this is Mikasa Ackerman, what's your name?"

"Kirishima Touka" she spoke honestly and began to speak to the pair

As Kaneki walked towards the dorms, he went through that conversation again and again, thinking about what else he should've said instead of pissing her off even more. It wasn't like anything he said was wrong, but he sure could've been nicer about it. _"I'll end up pushing her away again"_ he regretted internally

 **let me know what you think so far in reviews, any improvements would be appreciated :)**


	3. Storytime

It was around midnight, and in the boy's dorm, they were still all wide awake, despite Keith's warning them that they'd be doing laps until they dropped if he caught them awake after they had been told to sleep.

"Why did you join up, Connie?" Reiner asked

"In my village, they said there was no way I could be a soldier, so I wanted to prove them wrong" the bald boy replied honestly

"Really? How about you, Jean?" Reiner asked someone else

"Why else? I want to join the Military Police and live in the interior, far from those titans while I enjoy a life in the lap of luxury" he sounded arrogant and, unfortunately, it set off the resident loudmouth, Eren

"Why would you do that instead of joining the Scouts?" he asked aggressively, as if everyone should feel the same way as him.

"If anyone here joined the Scouts, I guarantee they'd all be dead within a month" he laughed

Eren and Jean then got into a very loud and stupid argument about the best choice, to hide in a false sense of safety behind the walls while the enemy approaches or go out of the walls in a suicidal attempt to win against the titans. Neither choice sounded great to Kaneki, not that there were any other alternatives. After a while, the argument to a simple yelling contest, "THE SURVEY CORPS!" "THE MILITARY POLICE!" "THE SURVEY CORPS!" "THE MILITARY POLICE!" "THE SURVEY CORPS!" "THE MILITARY POLICE!"

 _"_ _Enough of this"_ thought Kaneki as he stood up from his bed in the corner and walked over to the two yelling idiots. Their hands were gripping at each other's collars as they yelled at each other. Kaneki put one hand behind each of their heads and slammed their foreheads together, causing the two to recoil from the pain. "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" "YEAH, WHAT GIVES?!" Kaneki put his finger to his lips and whispered, "You're being too loud, Keith will hear you" the two boys then covered their mouths, save they accidentally start yelling again and alert Keith. Too late. The door slammed open as Keith entered, screaming "I TOLD YOU TO SLEEP! THAT'S IT, YOU'RE ALL DOING LAPS UNTIL THE SUN RISES!"

Dread filled the faces of each male cadet in the 104th training corps, while Kaneki just facepalmed. "GET GOING!" Keith yelled

* * *

"What the hell was that?" asked Touka, to nobody in particular

"Eren" responded her neighbour Mikasa

"What were they doing, idiots?" spoke another one of the female cadets, a black haired girl named Mina

"Eren's not an idiot. He's just passionate" Mikasa defended

"Keith's making them run laps until the sun rises, hehe" commented another girl, Ymir, who seemed rather amused by the concept

"I hope they'll all be okay" spoke another girl, Christa, the short girl seemed very caring for her comrades

"Moore food, I can still eat more food" one girl spoke, catching the attention of everyone who was awake

"Oh, it's just Sasha" Mina spoke

"Well if she's willing to eat a stolen potato in front of Keith, why wouldn't she dream of food as well?" Ymir sounded rather amused by this too

"Eren, be careful" Mikasa's voice was quiet, so quiet that Touka almost missed it, even with her ghoul hearing

"Why are you always so concerned with Eren, Mikasa?" Touka questioned the quiet girl

"Because… he saved my life and I promised his mother I'd keep an eye on him" she sounded calm but serious

"Really?" asked Mina, eager to get some gossip. Mikasa nodded.

"When I was younger, bandits came to my house and killed my family, apart from me. They kept me to sell me. Then Eren turned up and made sure they could never hurt me again, then he took me into his family with him" Mikasa spoke calmly, but it was such a shockingly sad story to hear

"Really? He doesn't look like a fighter" Asked Touka

Mikasa merely nodded.

As Mina started to continue the conversation, Touka heard quiet footsteps approaching the door to their dorms. "Get down, Keith's coming" she warned

True to her word, no sooner than the girls were able to get back into their beds and pretend to sleep, Keith opened the door, quickly but not slamming it open as he did with the boys. After briefly scanning the room, he exited the building and went back to yelling at the boys to run faster. "Touka, I owe you one" Mina spoke quietly, trying to make sure Keith didn't hear her. Touka just smiled softly as she began to sleep

* * *

Kaneki wasn't too bothered by the running he was being forced to do, but what annoyed him was the fact that all of the other males in the training corps were whining about it so loudly, it was getting on his nerves. Although whilst he was running, he did manage to get a good lay of the land, he went past many of the training facilities; their orientation spot, a forest where people practised using the ODM gear, the kitchens, the odour of whatever they were making was absolutely detestable. He almost covered his nose until he smelt a very familiar smell, one that wetted his appetite and made him extremely worried at the same time, he could smell blood. It was coming from a line of three large carts being pulled around the perimeter of their training grounds, probably to not disturb anyone, they were marked with a logo on the side of two wings folded over each other. Letting himself slow down considerably in order to follow the cart, they seemed to be heading for an old warehouse at the corner of the perimeter.

"It's the Survey Corps leftovers" a deep voice snapped Kaneki back to reality, looking to his left he saw Reiner and Eren running alongside him

"Their leftovers?"

"Yeah, the Survey Corps are the only ones who go beyond the walls to fight with the titans. They have a very low survival rate, over in that warehouse are the bodies of the unlucky ones"

"And people still want to join the Survey Corps?" Kaneki asked

"No, the number of people who join the Survey Corps is always decreasing because people have seen how those who fight the titans end up" Reiner informed the white-haired ghoul "But…"

"But they're the only ones who are actually trying to get us our freedom!" Eren interrupted the conversation, "Joining anything other than the Survey Corps is just a way of hiding from the titans"

"Then again, there's always gonna be idiots like me and Eren who want to go out and fight the titans" Reiner resumed, completely ignoring Eren's interruption

Kaneki just smiled at him, "I see, oh, I can see the sun rising" he spoke to his two new friends

"Race you back to the dorms?" Reiner challenged Eren and Kaneki as he shot off, sprinting at full speed

"Hey, no fair! You won't beat me that easily!" Eren yelled before sprinting off after him

Kaneki chuckled at their antics and ran after them


	4. Training

"Did you enjoy running laps Kaneki?" were Touka's first words to her white-haired friend after seeing him. The grin on her face showed just what she wanted to hear

"Yes, actually. I found something that will be very useful to us" he informed her  
"Oh? What is it?" Touka asked, rather disappointed that he had enjoyed his run

"A source of food. In the warehouse over there, there's the leftovers of the Survey Corps" he pointed to the warehouse

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" Touka had been getting a bit concerned with regards to what to do for food here, this news was just perfect

"I say we go there after 'dinner', if we say we're just going for an after-dinner run, nobody will be too concerned about where we are" Kaneki proposed

"Yeah, but we've just got to make sure we don't get our clothes all bloody and make sure we don't stay in their too long, the smell of blood will cling to us" Touka didn't want to get caught so quickly, to which Kaneki agreed

"All right, maggots, today we'll be testing your aptitude for the ODM gear, if you can't do this, you can't just kiss goodbye to ever being a soldier!" Keith yelled

Kaneki and Touka found the ODM gear rather easy to use, they just had to keep their balance, it was easy. "FUCK!" W

Evidently Eren wasn't finding it quite so easy, this was his third time falling and hitting his head, it was certainly giving everyone a good laugh. Looking around Touka noticed that Mikasa was finding it just as easy as they were, it was similar with Jean, Connie and Sasha. _"Uh-oh, that means Jean's gonna get all cocky about it and lord it over Eren. Not another argument"_ Touka was exasperated just by the thought of it

"KANEKI! KIRISHIMA! ACKERMAN! YOU THREE WILL BE TRYING BASIC MANUEVERING TOMORROW! THE REST OF YOU BETTER STEP UP YOUR GAME OR THESE THREE WILL LEAVE YOU IN THE DUST!" Keith yelled, "Can he not speak quietly at any point in time?" Kaneki whispered to Touka, to which she giggled lightly, "The better question is whether he can say anything without insulting someone else" Touka whispered back with a smile on her face. It had been a while since Kaneki had last seen that gentle smile; it was a precious sight to behold.

"We should get going" Mikasa's voice interrupted his train of thought as she spoke to Eren, who was still struggling to even get upright on the ODM gear.

"Leave me alone!" Eren scolded her, attempting to swat her away from helping him, _"Oh great, he's too proud to let even Mikasa help him"_ Kaneki thought

* * *

The next day, Kaneki, Touka and Mikasa went with Keith into the forest to attempt to move around using the ODM gear, it was relatively easy for them. After only one day of using, they looked like they had been using it their whole lives. Their level of talent for this honestly made Keith a bit scared of how strong they'd be in the future. They were able to move between the trees seemingly effortlessly, Kaneki likened it to when he uses his kagune to move around, just replace tentacles with wires. Touka was honestly by how easy this was to get the hang of, how the others didn't find it so easy was a mystery to her.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH! NEXT UP, WE'VE GOT HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT TRAINING" Keith yelled leading them to a large training field where the rest of the 104th squad were already practising.

Touka and Kaneki looked at each other, silently agreeing to try and avoid this as much as possible, lest they accidentally kill someone. They separated and tried to stick to the side-lines as much as possible, unfortunately, it didn't exactly work. Kaneki was approached by Reiner and Eren, clearly wanting a fight, "Just because you're talented with the ODM gear doesn't mean you can slack off in this"

Reiner pushed Eren in front of him, "Go get 'em, Eren" he encouraged

"Just you? Are you sure you don't want your friend to join too?" Kaneki asked out of genuine concern for Eren's safety, he didn't know how much to hold back

"Don't underestimate me!" Eren yelled, charging at Kaneki with the wooden training knife in his hands, thrusting it towards him

Kaneki didn't even flinch, Eren's movements were so slow that the white-haired ghoul could've avoided him in his sleep. He moved closer to Eren and grabbed Eren's head and slammed him to the ground, causing Eren to grunt in pain. "Are you satisfied now? Even combined, you two couldn't beat me"

"Are you sure about that?" Reiner taunted before charging Kaneki head-on

"Yes" Kaneki, gave Reiner a small punch to the stomach, holding back considerably, but it was still enough to cause the large man to keel over on the ground

"YAAARGH" Eren roared, attempting to punch Kaneki, Kaneki expertly dodged each blow until he finally got bored and gave Kaneki a small punch to the nose. Once again, he hadn't held back enough, he broke Eren's nose and had knocked him unconscious.

"He quickly noticed his mistake as he felt an overwhelming bloodlust targeting him, looking behind him, he noticed Mikasa walking towards him. Her eyes were covered by her bangs but he didn't need to see them to know exactly what kind of look she was giving him.

"Kaneki, what exactly do you think you're doing?" Her voice was quiet but each word was heavy on the ears of all nearby

"They wanted me to fight them, and so I did. I'll admit that I didn't hold back enough but the fault ultimately lies with them" He spoke calmly, not intimidated by her in the slightest.

"Their fault? What do you mean by that?" Mikasa seemed ready to kill Kaneki if he pushed her any further.

"They were too weak, they couldn't even protect themselves" that pushed her to her limit, no sooner than he finished speaking, Mikasa was rushing towards him. She through a strong right cross towards his face, however he caught it in his left hand.

"Is that all?" Kaneki's voice echoed in Mikasa's head, how could he be that strong? What did she need to do to get that strong? Was she still weak? How could she protect Eren if she could be stopped so easily? These questions rushed through her head.

Kaneki grabbed hold of Mikasa's right hand and pulled her towards him and raised his right leg, kicking her in the stomach, knocking her back about 3 metres. She held her stomach as she stared at Kaneki, not entirely out of hatred anymore, instead there was a glint of admiration, she wanted that much strength and he had it. Granted she still wanted to kill him for hurting Eren.

"Hey, what are you doing Bakaneki?!" _"Uh-oh"_ he thought, realising who was yelling at him, he turned to face them quickly, before having to dodge quickly as said person tried to kick him in the face

"Why'd you dodge that?" she really wanted to kick him now

"Because, I don't want to die. You were trying to take my head off" he attempted to reason

"SO?" her temper had gotten the better of her, she rather liked Mikasa, she ran straight at Kaneki, not intending to hold back against him.

She tried to kick him in the face again, but her attempt was foiled as Kaneki brought his arms up to block, this wasn't going to be easy and she knew it. Kaneki stood still, awaiting Touka's next move, he didn't need to wait long, Touka came at him again with a fierce flurry of punches, which Kaneki blocked expertly. Touka had to get clever now, she faked a punch from the left, leading into a right roundhouse kick to his side, she got him. Kaneki was knocked down from the intense force, the recruits had all gathered to watch now, such a high-level fight wasn't exactly a common sight. Touka let herself smirk at landing a kick on him, until he got back up, the only indication of him being hit was a bit of dirt on the side of his uniform. Touka's smirk fell from her face, she knew he had gotten stronger but she had never expected him to have become this strong.

"Kaneki, if you went all out, you could have beaten me already couldn't you?" Touka asked, already knowing the answer, the only answer she received was Kaneki looking away slightly. "And if I used my full strength, it would still not be too difficult for you, would it?" once again, silence was his response

 _"All out? They were holding back? And they were still that strong?"_ Mikasa watched the two ghouls fight in awe of their strength

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Keith yelled, he really never stops yelling, walking over to where all of the recruits were gathered. The sight he witnessed certainly wasn't what he had expected to see, Reiner keeled of on the ground, clutching his stomach, Eren lying on his back with a large bruise and nosebleed covering his face, Mikasa on the ground staring intently towards Kaneki and Touka, who seemed to have been fighting, but now the two of them just looked sad.

"ALRIGHT, SHOW'S OVER, GET BACK TO TRAINING!" Keith ordered the recruits, "As for you lot, take Braus and Yaeger to the med-wing. Ackerman, can you walk?" Keith sounded genuinely concerned for his students, he wasn't yelling for once.

"Yes sir" Mikasa stood up, completely recovered from Kaneki's kick, she rushed to Eren's side and lifted him over her shoulder, Kaneki walked over to Reiner and offered him a hand, to which Reiner chuckled.

"You certainly are strong, I'm sorry I messed with you" he spoke quietly, still not entirely recovered

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you so hard" Kaneki apologised, bowing his head to Reiner

"Heh, it's okay, now help me up" Kaneki pulled Reiner's arm around his shoulder and supported him as he attempted to walk. It wasn't long before Reiner began to fall over, until he was caught by a certain purple-haired ghoul, who lifted Reiner's other arm over her shoulder, "Here, let me help" she asked of them

"Thanks Touka", "Yeah, thanks a lot" The two boys thanked her

"Hey Kaneki"

"Yeah?"

"Can you give me a bit of training, you know, like how I used to train you?" she asked trying to avoid looking at him

"Sure, I'll try my best to be as good as you were" he resolved

"We might want to hurry up, or we'll be left behind" Reiner interrupted them, drawing the ghouls attention to Mikasa who was currently running full speed to the med-bay with Eren over her shoulder.

"Maybe we should follow her example?" Touka had a teasing look in her eyes

"Wait, what do you mean?" Reiner was worried now

"I like the way you think, Touka" Kaneki agreed with her, the two ghouls lifted up one of Reiner's legs with one hand, supporting his back with the other

"Guys, I really don't think this is sa-AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Reiner was reduced to screams as the two ghouls began running full speed to the med-bay

"YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING CRAZY!" He screamed at them, to which the two ghouls just smiled at each other and sped up their running

Touka began laughing as they ran, then an idea popped into her head, she moved her hand that was supporting Reiner's back as she snaked it towards Kaneki's, their fingers interlocked. Kaneki looked at her, rather confused by her action, she looked at him with a giant smile on her face and her cheeks were dusted pink.

* * *

After leaving Reiner and Eren with the medical staff, Mikasa refused to leave Eren's side so the two ghouls let her stay and walked back to the others. "COME ON, IF YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THE MILITARY, YOU NEED TO DO BETTER THAN THIS!" Keith's voice could be heard from miles away. Upon their arrival, the majority of the other recruits began backing away from them, scared of their monstrous strength. "Ah, Kirishima, Kaneki. How are they doing?" Keith asked them, slightly worried about his recruits

"They'll be fine, but Mikasa's going to stay with them for the time being" Touka reassured their instructor

"Good to hear, those two have some potential and it would be a shame if they had to drop out over this. Now, for you two… I heard what happened, and instead of punishing you, as I should, I'm going to give you two permission to use the forest over there to do training while the rest stay here" this surprised the two ghouls, it was exactly what they needed

"Sir, we'll accept that, but why?" Touka questioned their instructor

"Because you scare the other recruits when you fight seriously and I don't want anyone in my class to slack off while the others train, it gives the impression that I'm lenient"

"Sir, you see, I'm a bit sensitive about my strength, and so could you not let anyone watch us as we train" Touka asked him in the sweetest voice she could manage, forcing a small blush to her face, similar to what she did at Anteiku when Hide flirted with her.

"You're very good at the 'sweet little girl' act, and sure, I don't care what you do there during that time anyway, you're already perfectly skilled at hand-to-hand combat so I don't need to teach you anything. Go have fun with your boyfriend, I'll whistle when it's time to go back, so just have your clothes back on before then" he waved them off as he went to scream at Connie and Sasha for messing about

"Erm, well at least we have somewhere for me to train you" Kaneki reasoned with pink cheeks

"Shut up, Bakaneki" Touka ordered him, her face considerably reddened

* * *

 **This took a while for me to write, I'm sorry  
I might include a bit more Touken if you ask for it, or not, let me know what you want :)  
**


	5. Training II

"Stop being nice!" Touka yelled, her kakugan had been active for a while now and she had been trying to hit Kaneki, but he had been just avoiding her attacks, making no effort to attack her "This is meant to be training, isn't it? You're not fighting me back, how am I supposed to improve if you go easy on me?!"

She was right, no matter much he dodges her attacks, it won't help her to improve. She asked him to train her because he was a strong opponent and fighting him will help her exponentially. But he wouldn't fight her.

He had intended to fight her when he started the training but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. When Kaneki fought others, it was for the sake of those he cared about, but now, fighting against one of those people, it just didn't feel right.

"I know what you're thinking, idiot. You think that fighting me is wrong and you don't want to hurt me in any way…" she was spot on in her conclusions, "… but would you prefer that I stay weak, and become unable to protect myself?"

"No, that's not it" Kaneki defended

"You can't be around all the time, what if you're not here and something happens and I end up dead" Kaneki's face contorted in horror at the very thought of that happening

"So, get your shit together, Kaneki!" Touka ordered him

Waiting for his response, Touka stared at the white-haired ghoul, his bangs were covering his eyes, but she could tell he didn't want to do this, but he had to. A crackling sound was heard as four, blood red tentacles emerged from Kaneki's back, his kagune was out and ready for use and he was going to take this seriously. Touka cracked a small smile before unleashing her own kagune, her red and black wing was ready to kill.

"I'm ready for you, Kaneki. Bring it on!" Touka assured the white-haired ghoul

"I hope so" he spoke under his breath, before clicking his index finger, and readying his kagune

The two ghouls jumped to each other as their kagunes collided, Kaneki's strength was unbelievable, using only two of his tentacles, she was being pushed back. Before she could try anything, his other two tentacles looped around and pierced into her back and threw her to the ground. The wound was fairly deep and it was definitely painful, she tried to maintain her distance and give herself time to heal, jumping backwards into the trees, away from Kaneki. However he wasn't letting up, he rushed towards her full speed, using his kagune to cut through any branches in his way. Touka shot him with her crystals, trying to keep him away from her, but he used two tentacles to block her crystals, whilst his other tentacles were used to launch himself towards her. He caught up with her in a matter of seconds; he swiftly brought his right leg up and gave her a devastating kick to the side, causing her to cough up blood as she was launched into a tree. Quickly recovering, she shot off a large number of crystals towards him, which he dodged expertly, using the trees as cover every so often. Coming up with a plan, Touka jumped down from her perch in the trees, and began falling to the ground, Kaneki followed her, using his kagune to propel him quickly towards her, _"Perfect"_ she thought, knowing Kaneki fell into her trap. She allowed Kaneki to get a bit closer to her before she grabbed a hold on a branch and quickly pulled herself up and jumped towards Kaneki, before he had time to react, she mustered all of her strength and kicked Kaneki in the face, sending him straight into a nearby tree trunk. Knowing another opportunity like that was unlikely to come again, Touka charged towards Kaneki for a follow up attack, however, she was caught of guard as four strong tentacles began moving towards her at a high speed. Unable to completely dodge the kagune completely, she ended up with severe wounds on her left arm and leg, large chunks of flesh ripped from her body, she was unable to move, she was left crawling on the ground bleeding profusely. She turned to lie on her back and was met by the sight of the point of one of Kaneki's kagune, inches away from her eye.

"I surrender" her only words to the one-eyed ghoul

"Wise choice" he complimented her as his kagune dissipated

"I just need a minute to heal and then I'll be ready to go again" Touka spoke in between breaths

"You shouldn't push yourself" Kaneki warned her, "You're an ukaku; you can't keep going like this"

"I'm fine" she spoke stridently as she pushed herself to her feet, her wounds fully healed, but she still found it rather difficult to walk

"I don't think that you can do much in your condition, maybe we should rest a bit more before we sta-" his speech was interrupted by a loud whistle nearer the edge of the forest, apparently this training session was over, _"Saved by the bell"_ Kaneki mused

* * *

The two ghouls left the forest and began to join with their fellow recruits, they were immediately set upon by dozens of eyes. "What's with that look, guys?" Touka asked them

"Touka, look at your uniform" Mina informed her with a considerable blush on her face

Looking down, she noticed that large parts of her uniform were missing, where Kaneki had used his Kagune on her. Kaneki looked at his uniform and luckily, he had gotten off with only a bit of dirt and, a lot of, wood splinters covering his uniform, when he collided with a tree. Touka's face reddened as she brought her fist to the back of Kaneki's head "Why did you have to rip my clothes too?!" she yelled at him, embarrassed.

Unfortunately, that question seemed to echo in the minds of many of the other recruits, causing their faces to redden as well, some in embarrassment and some in anger "WHAT!? WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW COME THEY GOT TO DO THAT WHILE WE WERE STUCK IN TRAINING?!" The recruits were yelling at the two ghouls, unaware of the fact that they were just training.

Kaneki moved closer to his companion and whispered "I'm sorry about your clothes; maybe we shouldn't train in our uniforms"

"What are you suggesting?" Touka's face was positively pink, thinking about Kaneki's suggestion

"I mean we should wear some other clothes that we don't mind getting torn up a bit" Touka's face dropped at his suggestion, however her embarrassment reached a whole new level, she launched her fist into his face and slammed his face to the ground. "BAKANEKI!"

Touka's sudden showing of strength and violence conclusively shut up all the other recruits for fear of her strength.

* * *

"So, how was it?" Mina asked a certain purple-haired ghoul during dinnertime

"What do you mean?" Touka responded, taking another bite of her dinner, swallowing it immediately then pretending to chew said food

"Don't play dumb, I mean you and Kaneki, during training" Mina spoke with a small blush on her face, enjoying herself considerably as she surprised the ghoul

"Wha-what are you talking about, nothing happened of course!" she explained

"Oh, so you're not going to tell me about it, no fair!" Mina pouted

"Considering the strength of those two monsters, it's perfectly feasible that they did rip their clothes while training" spoke Annie, sitting opposite them, Touka didn't like being likened to a monster, but she wasn't going to make a scene as she had done more than enough of that for one day.

"Annie that's rude!" Mina scolded her, "But you do bring up a good point, you two are super strong" Mina complimented Touka

"Yeah, Kaneki's certainly gotten a lot stronger" Touka contemplated out loud, "But I'm not sure that's a good thing"

"What do you mean?" Touka was snapped out of her contemplation by Mina's curiosity

"Um, I mean he used to be really weak before but now-" "Oh I see, you want him to be weak so you could keep him safe and all to yourself" Mina interrupted her

"What? No, no way, that's not true" Touka assured her

"Oh, are you sure Touka? How boring!" Mina pouted

"Mina, you shouldn't involve yourself in others love lives" Annie interjected, "Yeah, you really should stop" Touka concurred

"I'll have you know, I haven't involved myself in Eren and Mikasa's relationship in ages" Mina spoke confidently

"Isn't that because you gave up trying as they were too stubborn" Annie interjected again

"It was soooo annoying" Mina pouted, "It's like they have never even considered the possibility"

Touka was rather confused "What about Eren and Mikasa?"

"You seriously didn't know?" Mina was stunned; "It's very obvious" Annie spoke up

"Well?" Touka asked again

"Well Mikasa is always with Eren and she's always trying to keep watch on him, it's like the rest of the guys don't even exist" Mine explained

"Huh? Is that so?" Touka was a little surprised but then she remembered that sad story Mikasa had shared with them about their childhoods, it wasn't too surprising

"Can we change the subject, please?" Annie complained

"Yeah, literally anything else, please" Touka added on

"Alright, how about we talk about the rabbit mask I found in your room, Touka?" Touka tightened her grip on her cutlery and ended up crushing it completely

"Ho-How did you find that?" Touka panicked at the concept, _"How did she find it? I thought I hid that"_

"I went digging through your stuff" Mina admitted to the ghoul as she pulled Touka's rabbit mask out onto the table

"Give me that!" Touka ordered as she attempted to take the mask away from her, Mina moved the mask just out of Touka's reach before jumping from her seat and running out of the dining hall, waving her mask around like it was her new toy with Touka chasing after her.

* * *

Eren, Armin and Mikasa had just finished eating and had decided to wander around for a while before going to their dorms; Eren and Armin discussing their progress with the ODM gear and Mikasa accompanying them, throwing in the odd helpful comment. They wandered around to find themselves on a hill onlooking the dorms and dining hall and there they found a certain white-haired individual leaning on a fencepost, observing the surroundings. The trio weren't exactly fond of the one-eyed ghoul, due to the whole beating them up thing, but Eren wasn't one to just let things lie. He walked towards Kaneki, ignoring his previous conversation with Armin, Eren asked Kaneki "How did you get so strong?"

Kaneki just stared at the emerald-eyed boy before speaking "Not even going to say 'hello'?"

Eren tutted, irritated, he asked again "How did you get so strong?"

"I lost enough, and then I decided that I was sick of losing those precious to me. I tried to get strong to protect them." Kaneki spoke calmly but his words were heavy with meaning

Mikasa found herself empathising with him, she had felt the same way when she lost her second family to the titans. She had trained her body to its limits in order to protect what's important to her.

Eren seemed to be seriously considering Kaneki's words, "Tell me one thing, can you help me get that strong?" Kaneki was surprised, his impression of Eren was an arrogant do-or-die kind of guy, but right now, he was putting aside his pride and asking for Kaneki's help and he just couldn't say no in that situation.

"I can't do too much but I can give you a few pointers for the ODM gear"

"That'll help a lot, thanks Kaneki"

"Okay Eren, I'm gonna go back down there for a while, I want to go look around the library for a while" Armin stated as he began walking away

* * *

"Was it a present?" Armin heard a voice ahead of him, giggling uncontrollably

"No, give it back" Another voice called out, it sounded rather annoyed

"Was it from Kaneki?" the first voice asked

"No, just give it back already" the second voice responded

Upon getting closer Armin noticed that the two voices belonged to Mina and Touka, Mina waving around a white mask and Touka trying to take it from her

"Erm, what are you doing?" he asked the two girls

"I stole Touka's mask that Kaneki gave her" Mina spoke between giggles

"I said he didn't give it to me" Touka repeated as she snatched the mask from Mina's hands

"Oh, Touka's so shy" Mina spoke to Armin

"Oh look, Bert and Annie are flirting" Armin said, immediately drawing Mina's attention elsewhere as he grabbed Touka's arm and pulled her to the library

"Thanks for that, Armin. God knows how long it would've taken me to get away from her" Touka thanked the blonde boy

"No problem, I had wanted to talk to you anyway" he admitted

"Oh, do tell"

"Well, you're pretty close to Kaneki, aren't you?" he asked

"Yeah, I guess so, why?"

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions about him?"

"Not really, but you should really ask Kaneki this kind of stuff, he'll tell you what you want to know"

"Yeah, well… he, kind of, scares me" at this Touka had to hold back her laughter, she remembered when he used to call her scary. Now people were coming to her to talk about him because he was scarier than she was, oh this was brilliant.

"Hahahaha, oh wow! Yeah, sure, what did you want to know?" she asked, still trying to suppress her laughter

"Well, for one thing, about his hair, is it meant to be white? Is that normal?" Touka's face dropped, all traces of amusement lost from her face, save a sad smile

"Well, that is something called Marie Antoinette syndrome, it's where the hair turns white due to extreme stress"

"I've never heard of that before, is it very common?" Armin asked, unaware of such a syndrome existing

"Not really, he's the only one I've ever seen in person" Touka spoke honestly

"Just what happened to him?"

"Ten days, he was left on his own for ten days as a sick bastard tortured him" Just the memory of that bastard Yamori made her skin crawl

Armin certainly didn't expect that, his face contorted at the thought of ten days of constant torture, he doubted even Eren, with his unshakeable will, could handle that.

"Of course he is strong now, the experience forced him to get stronger, if you ask him about, he'd probably say that he's a little grateful that it happened. It forced him to confront his own inadequacies" Touka spoke calmly

"You don't sound too convinced" Armin observed

"No, I can't say that I am" Touka smiled at her companion

"Then talk to him about it, you two are really close so he'll probably listen to you" Armin advised her

"I don't know, I'm not good at this kind of stuff" Touka revealed to Armin

"Just try it" he asked of her

"Fine" she resigned

"Also, what's up with that rabbit mask?" He asked, Touka had forgot about the mask

"It's nothing, just a souvenir" Touka spoke quickly before darting off, trying to avoid the conversation entirely

"Don't forget to talk to him" Armin called after her before picking up a book on one of the library shelves

* * *

 **longer chapter this time, I want to get to the titan encounter soon, but i feel like i have to do one or two more chapters before that, sorry :(**


	6. Time To Talk

Touka knew just where to find him, _"He'll be somewhere high up, looking out on everything and he'd have that stupid brooding expression on his face"_ she was right, running up a hill that towered over the training grounds, she found him, although she didn't expect him to have company, Eren and Mikasa were beside him and they seemed to be having a chat.

"…then you latch yourself onto two trees beside you and that's you do an emergency stop" Kaneki was explaining something to Eren

"So that's how you do it" Eren was listening intently

"Yes and – oh, hi Touka" Kaneki spoke as he realised her presence

"Kaneki, can I borrow you for a while?" she began dragging him away, not caring if he responded

"Eren, just ask Mikasa about anything else!" Kaneki yelled to Eren before he was dragged out of sight, the two cadets were left thoroughly confused as to the new development

"Should we go back and get Armin?" Mikasa asked her childhood friend, knowing Eren wasn't going to let her help him, she began walking down the hill

"No, not yet" Eren tugged at her arm, "You heard him, right? He said to ask you about anything else, so I will" He spoke matter-of-factly, as if Kaneki's word was law

Mikasa was certainly surprised, her eyes widened as Eren asked her for help, for the first time since she met him. "Yeah, go ahead" she waited for Eren's questions with a gentle smile on her face

* * *

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked his companion when they had finally stopped walking, they had ended up on another hill, considerably far from anything else. If the two of tthem started to fight here, nobody would see/hear them.

"Well, it's…" _"Shit! I didn't think this through, what do I say? Do I play it off and just ask him how he's doing? No. Maybe I should grab him and yell at him? No, no… I just don't know what I should say"_ Touka's mind raced as she tried to form the words she wanted to say, her breathing started to get shallower and her heart started beating out of her chest. However she was snapped out of her panic by a comforting hand being placed on her shoulder.

"Touka, calm down" Kaneki instructed her as he noticed her distress

The ghoul smiled gently at him as she raised her hand to her shoulder and let it rest on top of his. She found that she was enjoying the contact, she felt her body easing up under his touch and she regained her composure.

"Kaneki, this is important so I want you to listen carefully and answer me honestly, understood?" Touka spoke seriously, still afraid of losing her composure again, she didn't allow Kaneki's hand leave her shoulder.

"Yeah, understood" Kaneki was getting a bit worried, he had never seen her this nervous before. His instincts were telling him to run but he knew he'd pay for it later if he did.

"Okay, I can do this" Touka encouraged herself, taking a deep breath she began to talk "Why did you leave?" she asked, _"There we go, short and simple"_

"I left because I didn't think I could get what I wanted by staying at Anteiku" Kaneki's face was serious, his voice a little cold

"And what was it you wanted?"

"To protect, to protect Hinami, Banjou and the others and I wanted to protect you, Touka" Touka gripped hold of the hand that was on her shoulder, she really hated that answer but she calmed herself and asked her next question

"Fine, then why did you take Banjou and Tsukiyama with you when you left, but leave me behind?"

"There were a few reasons; one is as I said at the time, I didn't want you to get too involved so that you'd end up rejecting your human life, you wanted to go to college, right? You'd have needed to study. The other reason is because… do you remember the words I said to you? When that stuff with Ms Ryoko happened, and you were out, by yourself to get revenge against the investigators… you were lying, wounded, at the back of Anteiku…"

"I'd be sad if you died, right?" She remembered it clearly

"Yeah, at that time, all I wanted was the strength to protect those around me, but when Hinami disappeared and when we fought with Tsukiyama, you were always charging ahead, Touka. And I was left staring at you, receding into the distance… Even when I was captured by Aogiri, you came to save me, you fought by yourself and came out beaten black and blue, I was scared. I was afraid that you'd go off and die somewhere, without my knowledge" Touka was stunned by his little speech, she didn't know how she could put her thoughts into words, but he had done it so perfectly.

"You know, this time around, that's how I feel. You, far more than me, feel like you're going to disappear. I always end up thinking of ways to make sure you don't go off somewhere again." Kaneki's eyes widened, he had never thought about it like that, all he wanted to do was make sure she was safe, he didn't think it would be that bad for her.

"And, 'protecting us', please?" her voice was slightly bitter and sarcastic, "You say that it's about us, but it's really all about you. You're scared of being alone, it's all so stupid…" Her faced dawned a gentle smile before she continued, "… because I have no intention of leaving you alone" she removed his hand from her shoulder and wrapped her own around him, pulling him into a warm embrace.

Kaneki's eyes widened, he found himself unable to respond, all she had said was right, how could he not have seen it before? It was all him, he didn't want to lose anyone else, so he took the burden of protecting them all onto his own shoulders. It was too much for him to handle on his own, and for that he had blamed it on his own weakness, but that was wrong. The burden was never meant for a single person to carry, it was meant to be shared, everyone had something they want to protect, so he could share the burden with others who wanted to protect the same thing. She had helped him see the truth and how he hadn't realised it before baffled him, it was so obvious and yet he couldn't see it. _"I really am an idiot, aren't I?"_ he mused, looking down at the girl who was still holding him tightly, as if he'd fly away if she let go. Her head was buried in his chest, hiding her face, he had never seen her be so intimate with someone before. He put one hand around her waist, holding her close, the other rested atop of her head, rubbing it gently.

"Touka…" he lifted her face so that her eyes met his, "…thank you. Thank you so much" tears began welling up in his eyes, Touka found herself unable to stop herself from crying too, she could barely utter the words through the tears that were streaming down her face "you know, between the two of us, the only one who thought it was okay for you to just up and leave was you, you idiot"

"I know, and that was wrong" Kaneki admitted, tears still flowing from his eyes

"Don't think I'm gonna let you forget this, Bakaneki" she spoke between her tears

"I know" Kaneki said, holding her tightly but gently

"Aw, so cute!" A teasing voice interrupted them, the pair of ghouls looked to where the voice came from to see Ymir staring at the two of them with a knowing smile, Christa behind her blushing slightly and an annoyed look on her face.

"Ymir! I told you not to say anything, we should've just let them be" Christa pouted

"I'm sorry Christa, but it was just such a cute sight to see. The two strongest trainees in the whole corps, showing the full extent of their vulnerabilities to each other and bursting into tears." Ymir defended, still with a teasing tone in her voice

The two ghouls separated quickly and, after wiping their eyes on their sleeves, stared at their onlookers, "I won't say anything about it to the others." Ymir looked down at Christa, "But this is for my own benefit" Ymir began to walk back down the hill

The ghouls were substantially confused, but they weren't going to press the matter, for fear of Ymir ending up telling someone.

"How much did you hear?" Touka asked, her eyes hidden by the shadow of her bangs

"Um, we saw you hugging Kaneki, then Ymir said to get closer and we heard Kaneki saying 'thank you' to you and everything after that" Christa spoke timidly

Touka's face was still hidden, but Kaneki could tell she was blushing hard. If it had been anyone other than small and kind Christa saying that, Touka would've threatened to kill them if they ever spoke of it again. "Come to think of it, why were you two coming here? This place is really far from the rest of the corps, nobody else ever comes here" Kaneki observed, causing Christa's face to turn bright red, "W-w-we were gonna-" she stuttered out before Ymir's voice came echoing from down the hill "Christa, there's another place over there where we can do it, there'll be nobody who hears you screaming there" call it an overactive imagination but the two ghouls immediately came to their own conclusions, Christa's ever-reddening face only reinforcing it. "That's not it, we weren't gonna… Ymir!" her face went from red-faced embarrassment to fury as she ran after her 'friend', arms flailing at her

"I never thought I'd see her get that riled up" Kaneki thought out loud

"Yeah, I don't think anyone's seen that before" Touka commented, "I almost want to tell Reiner about it, just to see his face"

"You're a cruel one, Touka" Kaneki teased lightly, smiling down at the shorter girl

"That's not fair, Kaneki. You know you were thinking the same" she teased back

Responding only with a chuckle, Kaneki began to walk down the hill, Touka followed him immediately, catching up to him in a matter of seconds. Smiling at him, the ukaku ghoul started running down the hill, clearly wanting to race, "The others are starting to rub off on you, Touka" he teased

"Shut up and run, Bakaneki!" she laughed as she ran back to the dorms

* * *

Armin had taken out a book on strategy from the library and was about to head off to where Eren and Mikasa were, before he heard a loud voice yell to him "Out of the way, Armin!" looking to his left he saw Touka running at full speed straight towards him, he barely had time to duck back out of the way before the speedy girl went past him. He then noticed Kaneki following, not too far after her, running at an equally ridiculous speed, "Sorry, Armin" he apologised as he ran past

"Well, I guess they talked" he noticed, seeing the two smiling as they ran to the dorms, "Well, I should probably get back to Eren and Mikasa" he said, setting off to where he last saw them. He honestly didn't expect to see what he saw when he got there, Eren was still talking with Mikasa about the ODM gear and how to use it. Normally, whenever she tried to help him with anything, he'd scold her but this time, he was listening intently to her with a glint of admiration in his eyes. Just what had happened while he was reading in the library?

"Oh, Armin" Eren beckoned his friend over, "Did Kaneki give you some pointers?" Armin asked

"Yeah, him and Mikasa" Eren responded with a giant, innocent grin, "They were super helpful, thanks a lot, Mikasa" Eren thanked her with a smile on his face, one that he rarely used since the titan attack. It brought fire to Mikasa's cheeks, which she quickly hid behind her scarf, completely unnoticed by Eren.

"Seriously, what happened whilst I was at the library?" Armin just had to know, he hadn't seen them like this in years

"What do you mean?" Eren was honestly confused, he didn't think he was acting strangely, "After Kaneki got dragged off by Touka, he said to ask Mikasa about anything else, so I did. She's a much better teacher than he is" he remarked honestly

"Well, um… don't forget to thank him later" Armin instructed his friend

"Yeah, of course I will" Eren spoke confidently before turning back to Mikasa, "So how about this…" he continued to ask her about the ODM gear for another hour or so before they went back, she responded to all of his questions happily, _"I should thank him too"_ she thought as she walked back with her friends

* * *

 **This chapter made me think a lot, sorry if I made it too shippy, I couldn't help myself  
** **I tried to combine the two conversations with regards to Touka/Kaneki** **in the tokyo ghoul manga to show how I thought it would go, tell me how you think it worked out**

 **I've also made a start on the next chapter but I'm struggling with it a bit, if you can come up with anything you'd like to see please tell me and I'll try to incorporate it :)**


	7. Encounter

It was time to observe the cadets of the 104th squad, Keith was standing by as the recruits went through their last few training practices before becoming real soldiers. "THIS IS THE TIME TO SHOW ME EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Keith yelled at them

"Reiner Braun, the body of an ox and the will to match, respected by his comrades"

"Armin Arlet, his physical strength is sub-standard, but academically he's brilliant"

"Annie Leonhart, skill with a blade is perfect, doesn't exactly play well with others"

"Bertolt Hoover, he's mastered all techniques with the ODM gear but lacks assertiveness, so he tends to leave decisions to others"

"Jean Kirstein, his abilities with ODM gear are top class but he's a hot head and tends to cause trouble"

"Sasha Braun, amazing instincts, rarely shares them with her teammates"

"Connie Springer, skilled at handling tight turn manoeuvres, rather dim-witted"

"Mikasa Ackerman, perfect student, excels in everything, her talent is historically unprecedented"

"Touka Kirishima, beautiful use of the ODM gear. On par or surpassing that of Ms Ackerman, tendency to get violent with other recruits if irritated"

"Eren Yaeger, not possessing any talent, he has improved his marks through sheer effort. And a sense of purpose that's almost terrifying"

"Ken Kaneki, the only way to describe him is, a monster, his skill goes far beyond that of the other recruits, his potential seeming limitless. No matter what difficulty he faces, he overcomes it effortlessly. His strength and speed make him a force to be reckoned with, but his strength and his appearance cause him to seem intimidating to most of the other recruits"

"This year's graduates are certainly an interesting bunch, aren't they?" Keith commented, "But it can only be the top ten who can be named"

* * *

It was time to graduate, the 104th squad awaited in front of a large stage where Keith stood, a roll of paper in his hand. For many this small bit of paper would determine the rest of their lives, for some it could spell the end of theirs. He held up the paper and read "The top ten are as follows, first seat, Ken Kaneki, second seat, Touka Kirishima, third seat, Mikasa Ackerman, fourth seat, Reiner Braus, fifth seat, Bertolt Hoover, sixth seat, Annie Leonhart, seventh seat, Eren Yaeger, eighth seat, Jean Kirstein, ninth seat, Marco Bott and tenth seat, Connie Springer"

* * *

The next day

Kaneki were riding on the back of a carriage in Trost district, seemingly amazed at the size of the walls that surrounded the districts, 50 metres in height, 2 or 3 metres in thickness. How on earth did they construct these walls? How did they get the titans not to interfere when they were building it? Where did they get the materials for them? Why did they smell so sweet? The last question particularly bothered the two ghouls, as it was a familiar smell, one they had almost forgotten about due to repeated exposure to it. Dismissing it as just their imagination, the ghouls were sent to clean the cannons a part of the wall close to wall rose, with Jean, Berthold and Reiner.

"Hey, Jean. You're from Trost, right? Know anywhere fun we can go later to celebrate us getting into the top ten?" Reiner struck up a conversation

"Not really, there's not much to do here. I'm just eager to get this over with, then I can go into the interior and relax for the rest of my life" he smiled, proud that his plan was coming to fruition

"I don't get you" Reiner spoke, "You know what happened to wall Maria and yet you're not doing anything about it, you're just hiding behind the walls"

"Yeah, unlike a certain suicidal maniac I could name, I have no desire to fight those things. I mean, what's wrong with wanting to live a little longer?"

"There's nothing wrong with that" Kaneki interjected, to the surprise of the two

"Yeah," Touka agreed, "there's nothing wrong with valuing your own life"

"If he wants to live a longer life, being in the Military police is his best bet" Kaneki added on

"Never would've expected to hear that from you two, does that mean you'll be joining the Military Police too?" Jean asked them

"No, I'm curious about the world beyond the wall so it'll be the Scouts for me" Kaneki admitted, Jean looked over at Touka to see if she agreed, she just nodded

"Well, I guess you two don't have to worry as much about being eaten as most people, do you?" Jean pointed out, clearly in reference to their skill when it came to killing titans, in training at least

"I'm also curious about the titans themselves, are they really as bad as they are made out to be?" Touka kicked Kaneki lightly at this comment, "Idiot, don't bring that up" she scolded him quietly so that the others wouldn't hear her

"You've never seen them, have you?" Reiner asked, already knowing the answer, "I can tell you for sure, titans are monsters. They will rip you apart without a second thought"

"Reiner, calm down" Berthold instructed his friend, before whispering under his breath, "It's almost time, isn't it?" "Yeah" Time for what, the ghouls couldn't say for sure but they weren't going to pry.

"Hey, Bertolt, could you go down and get me a new brush, mine's started to break" Reiner asked him, Bertolt complied and jumped down the wall, using his ODM gear to stop himself from falling to his death

"You know, you could've got one yourself, why did you make Bertolt do it for you, are you that lazy?" Touka asked the blonde man

"Nah, it's just that he doesn't like this kind of stuff, this way gives him a break from it"

* * *

The group were interrupted from their cannon-cleaning by a loud explosion, towards the outer gate of the city. The sight that struck their eyes shocked them beyond compare, at the outer gate a titan stuck its head over the top of the wall. It had no skin and its jaw was like that of a corpse. They couldn't see it move but it was obvious that once the gate was sent flying from its position that it had kicked it open.

Immediately, the two ghouls began to move along the walls as fast as they could. This was to be their first encounter with a titan and they had so many unanswered questions. Are they like us ghouls? Are they intelligent? Do they know the harm they're doing? Can they speak? The list of questions seemed unending, but the question of whether they had intelligence was quickly answered, as the titan ran its arm along the wall, in order to destroy the defensive cannons.

"Kaneki! Eren, Mina and the others are there, keep an eye out for them" Touka called to him

"Understood" he called back

Kaneki was almost looking forward to his encounter with this titan, as he rushed to meet it. He hoped that he may be able to talk with it, to understand it. His hopes were quickly dashed as the creature became engulfed in a steam that seemed to cover an area of 100m around it in all directions, preventing them from seeing the titan, let alone getting close to it. Once the steam cleared, the titan was gone, the only traces of him ever being there were a large hole in the wall and two giant footprints on the ground.

"How did it…? But that's impossible, isn't it?" Kaneki stared in disbelief at what had just occurred, a 60m giant had just disappeared into thin air, Touka was equally baffled at the sight before them

"Eren, what happened, did you kill it?" Thomas called out to his friend, evidently he had attempted to fight the gigantic humanoid

"It's gone, just like five years ago. Here one minute and gone the next" Eren responded

"It was like this five years ago?" Kaneki questioned

"Yeah, it turned up, destroyed the wall then disappeared completely" Eren answered honestly "Sorry, I had him but then I let him get away"

"What are you apologising for? We couldn't even move…" Thomas encouraged him

"This is really not the best time for a chat!" Connie scolded, and he was right, less than thirty seconds after, a soldier had climbed the wall to give them their orders

"What are you doing here? The strategy for dealing with the colossal titan appearance has already begun. Report to HQ at once!"

"Yes, sir, we pray for the advance team's success" The recruits saluted to their seniors before they shot off to the other side of the wall

Kaneki and Touka immediately headed towards the command centre, only to find the place in complete chaos. Some of the soldiers wanted to run, others keeled over and threw up and some were holding onto their loved ones. The ghouls found themselves caught in the sea of people heading in every direction.

"You all have passed the graduation drills! You are first-class soldiers now! This is your first operation but we expect you to contribute! Just like in training, each squad will take a different street. You'll be under garrison command. The garrison will take the vanguard, you trainees are the middle-guard and the garrison's elite unit will be taking the rearguard. Dismissed!" "Yes, sir!"

* * *

Kaneki was shocked at how quickly everything was progressing, less than 24 hours ago he was just a trainee, now he was being sent to the front lines to fight the titans. It seemed almost too perfect, there was no way this could be a coincidence, could it?

"It looks like we're going to finally see what these titans are really like, huh?" Touka observed

"Yeah, but based on the colossal one, I'm not sure about them" Kaneki admitted, to the chagrin of Touka, who gave him a glare before telling him "Don't let that one determine your view of the whole species. You sound just like the CCG, they judged all of us as if we were Aogiri, now you're doing the exact same thing" You sound just like the CCG, they judged all of us as if we were Aogiri, now you're doing the exact same thing" her voice sounded bitter but, again, all of her words were true.

"You're right, I'm sorry" Kaneki bowed in apology before turning to his name being called "Trainees Kaneki, Kirishima and Ackerman. You have been specially assigned to the rearguard" Mikasa's face contorted in worry at this

"Sir, with my level of skill, I'd only get in the way" she complained, her aim was obvious, to stay with Eren

"I'm not asking for your opinion! The evacuation's going slowly so we need the best of the best guarding the public!"

"But-"Eren interrupted her with a headbutt, "Hey! That's enough, Mikasa! Humanity is on the brink of extinction and you're trying to dictate you own rules?!"

"I'm sorry… I wasn't thinking with a clear head… but I have one favour to ask…please…" she put her hand on his chest and made her request "please… don't die"

Eren made no effort to respond but anyone who looked at him could tell, he had no intention of dying here, his eyes burning with a fire that threatened to burn all titans to nothing but ashes.

Mikasa walked straight past her two comrades to prepare for battle, Touka immediately followed her. "Mikasa! Are you okay?" she turned her black haired friend to face her to see small tears at the edge of her eyes. Touka had no time to respond as Mikasa wiped her eyes and dawned a serious look, "I'm sorry, it won't happen again" she clutched at her scarf, holding it close to her face

Touka felt pity for the girl and wanted to comfort her but unfortunately they had no time for that, they were in a war zone, "You're allowed to be upset but don't let it distract you from your job" she informed Mikasa before running off to her squad, "Right!" Mikasa resolved, she could get upset later but right now she was on the frontlines of a titan attack, she ran after Touka, they were in the same squad.

* * *

 **Sorry if this chapter's not that good, I'm not too happy with it myself, any improvements would be greatly appreciated  
**


	8. Titans

Touka, Kaneki and Mikasa stood on top of a roof onlooking the district, the people were moving towards the gates, completely filling the streets. In the distance, smoke was rising from the houses and steam from the titans, causing the sky to become a dull grey as clouds began to form. The recruits could hear the earth shaking, it was time, time to deal with the titans, the two ghouls looked to their friend and asked her a question, to which her response was surprisingly adamant, "You want to talk to a titan?!" her face filled with shock, "There are no records of any titans ever communicating with each other, let alone with humans!" "Please, just let us try" Kaneki pleaded with her

"Fine, but don't you dare get eaten!" she snapped back, she had gotten rather close to the ghouls and didn't want to lose them.

The earth began shaking more violently, looking to its origin, they saw a large pink humanoid-like creature heading towards them, approximately 15m in height and its mouth hanging open like a goldfish. As they got close to the titan they could smell something, something familiar, something sweet, _"It's just like the walls,_ _ **they**_ _can't be involved too, can they?"_ The ghouls thought as they approached the titan. They attempted to get close to the creature but someone else did first, a garrison soldier flew around the titan and slashed at its nape, missing it narrowly. This small error proved to be his undoing, the titan quickly grabbed the man in one hand, most likely crushing a number of his bones and internal organs, before seemingly smiling and ripping the man apart in his mouth, said man screaming in agony all the while.

The ghouls were frozen solid, they had hoped that they wouldn't be like this, they had hoped that it was all just an error by humanity to think that they were mere monsters. They had gone through all of the training, all of the lessons on titans, they had said that "titans don't get any dietary benefit from eating us, make no mistake, titans are only in it for the kill" but the ghouls hadn't believed it. They thought that perhaps in this world there might be some creature which could understand them, however this sadistic display only seemed to prove their instructors right.

Finding their resolve, the ghouls readied their blades and got ready to kill the titan, only to see its face contorting and its throat throbbing. The titan keeled over, leaning on a building as a lump arouse from its throat, the titan threw up a large, red and sticky ball, upon taking a closer look, the ghouls noticed the remnants of not only the soldier they had watched get eaten, but at least ten other mutilated bodies were in there as well. "Titans have no digestive system and so, once they've had their fill, they throw up and keep eating" they remembered their instructors words. Recovering from its throwing up, the titan locked onto the two ghouls and began to walk towards them. The ghouls had to control their emotions, lest they activate their kakugan, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult by the second.

"Touka"

"Kaneki" The ghouls' voices were serious

"I'm sorry, I had proposed we join the military to investigate the titans, but it seems I was wrong about them"

"Apology accepted, I'm sorry that I called you out earlier for judging the titans"

"Apology accepted, now should we deal with this?"

"With pleasure!" Touka flew towards the titan, straight towards its face. Its jaw opened wide, attempting to eat her but the ukaku ghoul flew above it and towards the forehead, where she delivered it a devastating axe kick, creating a large dent in the creature's face, startling it. Touka really wanted to let lose her anger on this thing but, whilst it was distracted by the dent in its face, Kaneki swiftly circled around the titan and executed it. Its large body fell to the ground with a mighty crash, sending shockwaves into the surrounding area that shattered all nearby windows.

The ghouls were silent, the weight of their despair almost too much to bare. They had hoped that these titans were like them, that they could talk to them and try to help them. They no longer held such a desire, instead they wanted nothing more to be rid of them completely. They returned to Mikasa, who hadn't moved since they last spoke to her, waiting for the next titans to show up. Upon their return Mikasa asked them "Satisfied? The titans feel nothing and want for nothing except to devour us" "Yeah, we are well aware of this now" Kaneki updated her "We won't hesitate on the next one!" Touka interjected, anger clear on her face.

"Six titans towards the east! Deal with them!" their superior ordered them

"Yes, sir!" the trio responded in unison

"I'll take the two in front!" Mikasa called to her teammates as she flew forward

"I'll take the two on the right! Kaneki, take out the ones on the left" Touka called out

"Leave it to me!" he responded

The trio, seemingly effortlessly, cut down all titans in their path, not hesitating for a second, but there was a small call for concern. The order to close the gates had not come yet, each gate was wide open and that meant that the civilians weren't all evacuated yet. The number of titans approaching was ever increasing and if the gates weren't closed soon, the titans could very well get through and get through wall Rose. "A fifteen metre titan is heading towards the gate! Stop it at all costs!" their panicked superior ordered. The titan seemed to be ignoring the soldiers chasing it as it ran through the city. "Is that an abnormal?" Kaneki questioned,

"Yeah, and abnormals are only attracted by large groups of people" Mikasa answered him

"If it's heading towards the gates, and the evacuation hasn't been completed yet… we really need to hurry" Touka realised the danger that those citizens were in and sped up

The abnormal turned a corner and came into view of the gate, the citizens were immediately reduced to screams as they attempted to push their way through the gate. Latching onto the back of it, Mikasa cut down the titan as quickly as she could, its momentum caused it to slide towards the gate, stopping not too far from the gate as Mikasa landed on top of its head.

They had found why they hadn't been ordered to shut the gates and retreat, looking out at the scene before them they saw a wagon was blocking the gate. "Excuse me, what's going on here?" Mikasa asked the group in front of her

"Perfect timing! Force these good-for-nothings to push my wagon, I'll pay you handsomely!" a rather fat-looking man called out to her

"Are you serious? There are soldiers dying over there, laying down their lives because this is taking too long!" Mikasa's face was full of sorrow

"Yeah, that's their jobs! You want me to cry over them? They're supposed to be willing to lay down their lives! It's not my fault they have to finally earn their keep after all these years!" the fat man spat back at her, making her face turn cold as she jumped down from the titan corpse

"You're absolutely right, sir! That is a soldier's job, but, sometimes it's not the life or the death of a soldier that makes the biggest difference" she approached the man, her voice laced with hostility

"Don't you dare! I am good friends with the commander, one word from me and you'll be court-martialled!" he sent two of his subordinates to take her down. The two ghouls couldn't help but chuckle as Mikasa easily knocked aside the two men before she raised her blade to the boss' throat "Is that word going to come from beyond the grave?"

The man looked positively terrified, before his face turned angry, "Pull the damn wagon out"

"Took you long enough!" Touka called out, she was sitting on top of the wagon, Kaneki just beneath her, his hands holding onto the underside of the wagon. A small smile appeared on his face as he warned the people around him "You might want to keep a safe distance" He pulled the wagon with all his strength from where it was lodged in the gate, and ran for a while as Touka enjoyed the ride. Stopping after a short while, before turning back and running towards the gate again with the wagon in tow, stopping right in front of the crowd that was watching the incredibly strong soldier in awe. The stop was a bit too sudden for Touka, as she flew over the top of the wagon, landing on top of Kaneki, "Hey, Bakaneki! Warn me before you stop like that!" she scolded her white haired friend who offered his apologies

The civilians were able to get through the gate a matter of seconds afterwards and, to the chagrin of the fat businessman, he had to leave his wagon behind. Only two remained outside longer than the others, a woman and her daughter who were graciously thanking the trio, who just shared a look and a smile before saluting to the pair.

The order to retreat came shortly afterwards, in the form of a bell rung loud enough for the whole district to hear. "Good work, you three" their leader complimented them before Mikasa interjected "I'm going to help the middle-guard retreat, sir" without waiting for conformation, she flew off.

"Wait, Ackerman, get back here" He called after her

"Sir, we'll go help her" Kaneki announced before flying after her, Touka in tow

"No! Wait, you idiots!" he gained no response "Seriously, why is nobody listening to me today?" he asked no one in particular

* * *

The ghouls had kept Mikasa in view, but in the interest of conserving gas, they didn't try to catch up to her. Once Mikasa had landed on a rooftop, the ghouls were able to catch up quickly, following shortly afterwards to be met by the sight of at least a hundred soldiers from the 104th corps on the same rooftops and each one had fear written on their faces. Kaneki spotted out Jean from the crowds and ran over to him, where he was accompanied by Connie and Sasha. "Jean, what's wrong? Why isn't anyone going over the walls?" he asked him

"We can't, we don't have enough gas. The supply team chickened out on us and we can't get the gas ourselves because HQ is being swarmed by titans" he responded calmly, his voice filled with misery, he knew he was going to die here

"Well we'd better start thinning their numbers, hadn't we?" Touka pointed out

"Yeah, but we just don't have the numbers for this kind of operation, even with you two here, it's doubtful that any of us will survive this day" Jean pointed at the tanks on Kaneki's legs, "After all, I doubt you two have that much gas left either"

He was right. They hadn't restocked their gas and blades, they didn't have much left of either. However they still had to try, there was no way they were going to just sit there and wait to be eaten. Their planning on how to get out of this mess were interrupted by the sound of crying, the source turning out to be Armin, Mikasa was sat in front of him. _"Come to think of it, where's Eren? Wasn't he in Armin's squad?"_ Kaneki's internal question was answered shortly after.

"Thomas Wagner, Nac Tias, Mylius Zeramuski, Mina Carolina, Eren Yeager. These five soldiers bravely gave up their lives in the line of duty" Armin spoke through his tears, bringing further shock and disheartening all the soldiers

"His entire squad was wiped out?"

"That's what'll happen to us if we try to go to HQ!" the other soldiers were getting terrified

Touka, on the other hand was positively furious, she held Mina and Eren very close and to learn that they had been taken from her too, it was just… just…

"Touka, calm down" Kaneki instructed his friend from behind

"How can I calm down?! We've just been told that our friends are dead, Kaneki! Tell me how I'm supposed to calm down, Kaneki!" she turned to him to see tears at the edges of his eyes that he was clearly trying to suppress, she let herself calm down _"Okay, calm. He's not saying that he doesn't care. He knows that we still need to continue on, for their sakes too"_ "I'm alright now" she assured him

"Good, 'cause we need to get everyone moving now, before they get even more discouraged" Kaneki was right, if things got much worse than this, the soldiers may be reduced to panic, and should that happen, the casualties would be immense

"Armin, get up" a familiar voice spoke gently before announcing "We're going to retake the supplies at HQ"

Marco stood in her way "We can't, even with you here, there are too many titans there"

"Then, I'll kill them. I'm strong. Stronger than all of you. Extremely strong. I can kill all the titans by myself. You're all either incompetent or spineless cowards. How pathetic. If you won't help, then I'll do it by myself" her voice was cold, cold as it was when Kaneki hurt Eren during training

"Mikasa, what are you saying?!"

"You want to fight all those titans by yourself?! There's no way you can do that!"

"If I can't then I'll just die. But if I win, I live. Unless I fight, I can't win" were her last words to the rest of them before she flew off

"Damnit! God fucking damnit! Your phrasing needs some work. Was that your way of trying to shock us into action?" Jean spoke under his breath "What are you lot waiting for?! We weren't trained to let our comrades fight alone! If you're coming, come on! If not, stay out of my way!" he yelled at his comrades before following after Mikasa

"I couldn't have put it better myself" Kaneki complimented him before following

"I'm not letting any more of my friends be taken from me today!" Touka announced before following. Connie, Sasha, Armin, Reiner, Bertolt and Marco all followed on afterwards.

"They're crazy, totally crazy"

"They're gonna get themselves killed"

"Come on guys, if we follow we are more likely to live than if we stay here!"

After a loud roar from the soldiers, they all followed. "Just follow Mikasa" Jean ordered, "Kaneki, Touka, could you two move up ahead and deal with as many titans as you can on the way?"

"Of course" Touka replied confidently

"Fine by me" Kaneki confirmed

Charging ahead, they noticed just how much faster than them Mikasa was moving, it was a serious cause for concern, she was using too much gas! "Touka, keep an eye on Mikasa, her gas is gonna run out any second!" Kaneki warned

"What?! Mikasa, slow down!" Touka called out to her friend, to receive no reply nor conformation that she was heard

True to Kaneki's prediction, Mikasa's gas petered out shortly afterwards. She fell from the sky and crashed into a rooftop and flew off in a random direction

"No, Mikasa!" Armin called out, following her, Touka immediately followed him

"Jean, I'll keep them out of trouble, you and Kaneki lead the others to HQ" Connie informed his friend

"Then I'll go with you-" "Don't be stupid! We need you to keep the others in check, now get going!"

"Aaargh, fine!" Jean resigned to his role and continued on forwards

"Armin, did you see where she fell?!" Touka called out to her friend,

"She shouldn't be too far from here, check the streets!" Armin responded, panic filling his voice

Armin was the one who noticed her first, she was knelt in the middle of a street and a 15m titan stood in front of her. Springing into action, Armin flew down towards her, picking her up as he flew to the rooftops where they landed with a crash. "Mikasa, are you okay?" she just nodded before Touka and Connie landed next to them, "Are you two okay?" the bald boy asked

"Yeah, we're fine, but right now we need to get out of here!" Armin spoke, considerably panicked

"We've got company" Touka warned, hearing a familiar stomping and smelling something very sweet getting closer

"Shit, two fifteen metre titans!" Connie panicked, urging them to leave before Mikasa corrected him "No, that one is different" she pointed to one of the titans, its body seemed to be considerably more muscular in comparison to the average titan, its hair was long and messy, its eyes green and full of fury and it had a lipless mouth, with jagged teeth which parted as the titan let out a roar.

The other titan roared back at it " _Are they communicating?"_ Touka wondered

The titan Mikasa pointed to raised its arms into a fighting stance, both arms raised to guard its head, this startled the recruits, a titan that knew how to fight? The other titan launched itself towards the "different" titan, which proceeded to launch a right hook to its head, ripping it from its body and sending it flying into the tower of a building at least 300m away. Its head missing, the titan collapsed to the ground, shortly afterwards, the headless body began to move to get up until its nape was crushed under the foot of the first titan before it began to leave.

"It-it just finished it off! It knew exactly where the weak spot was!?" Armin was amazed by the show of power this titan was putting on

"Time to split, the last thing we need is for it to start coming our way!" Connie warned them, eager to re-join the others

"It has no reaction to us, any other titan would've killed us by now" Armin reasoned

"It seems to understand the basics of hand-to-hand combat. What is that thing?" Mikasa added on

"Just assume that it's another abnormal, the damned things are always an unpleasant surprise" Connie pushed them to move, "We need to get going now!"

"Wait! Mikasa's tanks are empty!" Armin pointed out "What!? Then what are we gonna do?! We'll need you if we want to take back HQ!" Connie screamed at them

"There is a way, there might not be much left but they're still better than your empty ones" Armin declared as he disconnected his gas tanks "Armin, no-!" "This is the only way!" He didn't let her speak, "Just, use this gas more sparingly" he requested with a solemn look on his face, whereas Mikasa's fell into despair _"What have I done? I led the charge with no regard for the lives of the others. I didn't think about my responsibility and was careless with my own life. And all of it was due to my own personal issues"_ she internally scolded herself.

"There, I replaced your tanks and restocked your blades, just leave me this one. It's just that, I'd rather this be my end, not being eaten alive" Mikasa snatched his small blade from him and threw it away "Armin, you're not going to die here" she assured him

"You know something, Armin? You're really brave…" Touka butted in "but you're an idiot! Did you honestly think that we were going to let you die here?" her voice was harsh but her words were kinder to him than she could've known

"Yeah, there's no way I'm leaving you behind here!" Connie announced, to which Mikasa nodded in agreement

"You guys, but…" "No buts!" Touka interrupted him and pointed towards the abnormal titan that was currently skirmishing with two other titans "And besides, you said it yourself, didn't you? That titan has no reaction to us and he seems to have it out for the other titans. I would've thought you could think of something by now that could help us, knowing all that" she hinted at an idea which Armin picked up on

"Touka, you're brilliant!" He ran over and hugged his friend, then turned to the others and told them "We can use that titan! If we can lure it to HQ we can take out all the titans at HQ in one swoop"

"Wait, are you serious, Armin?! How are we even supposed to lead that thing?" Connie doubted their plan

"It seems to be fighting on instinct, so if we deal with the titans nearby, it'll look for more which will be at HQ!"

"It's worth a shot, we've not got much else, anyway" Mikasa supported them

"So we're going to be recruiting a titan?!"

"Yes"

Connie sighed "If we're wrong, we're gonna look real stupid"

"Well we'd better make sure that doesn't happen, shouldn't we?" Touka responded with a smile "Mikasa, you and I will take out the titans nearby, Connie, can you carry Armin?"

"Leave it to me!" he saluted to show his determination and with that they began, probably, the first mission in the history of humanity to attempt to help a titan.

* * *

Meanwhile…

The rest of the recruits, led by Kaneki and Jean were getting close to HQ, when Jean noticed his ODM gear start to fail. Upon noticing this, he warned Kaneki who immediately stopped the advance by raising his hand. "Kaneki, while I appreciate the thought, I don't think we should be stopping here"

"Are you sure? Take a look ahead of us" he issued Jean to look, who quickly understood their current situation, the path ahead was completely swarmed with titans. Even if he had all his gas, getting through there would be impossible, let alone without gas.

Kaneki walked up to Jean and began to remove his ODM gear, "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Take the gas and blades from mine, I'm going to clear the path ahead" Kaneki ordered him

"Without your gear, you'll just end up dead! Think for a second! You're meant to lead us, right!?" Jean scolded him

"I'm not as good a leader as you are, Jean. Besides, I have no intention of dying here" he smiled at his friend

"And what am I supposed to tell Touka when you end up dead?!" Kaneki chuckled lightly, "Yeah, she can get very scary when she's angry. Don't worry, you'd be fine, she wouldn't blame you she'd probably be angry at me more than you" Jean stared in disbelief at the person in front of him, "I thought you said that you need to value your life!" he reminded Kaneki of their conversation on the walls

"Yes, I did, but this is different. I'm not going to die here, if you are insistent on telling Touka something, tell her this…" he covered his right eye with his hand before continuing, "I'm going to be going all-out against them" his voice was so cold that it gave Jean chills, "Now, take my gas and get going" Kaneki ordered before jumping down to the ground, killing a 7m titan as he did so

"OVER HERE! FREE MEAL RIGHT HERE, TITANS!" Kaneki taunted as he ran down the street, beckoning the titans to come to him, which they did. His plan was working, at least 20 titans of different shapes and sizes were following him down the street, "JEAN, GET GOING!"

 _"_ _Damnit, you arsehole. Putting the responsibility on me, when I'm the least suited to being a leader. You'd better get back alive so I can kick your arse myself"_ "Come on, this is our chance! Make a break for HQ while he's distracting them!" he called as he ran along the rooftops, shortly followed by Marco, Sasha and the others

 _"_ _Good, they're gone"_ Kaneki thought, relieved as he dropped his blades and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out his mask and put it on, it had been a long time since he had put it on, the familiar smell of the leather filling his nose, the skin tight mask fitting his face perfectly, _"How nostalgic"_ he mused as he turned to the titans that had all but caught up with him, "You lot, you really have bad luck don't you. Unfortunately for you, the only ones who will be eaten… will be you!" he unconsciously clicked the knuckle of his index finger with his thumb as he activated his kagune and two red tentacles emerged from his back and pointed towards the titans, ready to kill.

Jumping at the titans, he easily dispatched two of the smaller titans with one tentacle each before he decided to experiment. He approached an 8m titan and pierced its knees with his kagune and ripped them to ribbons, causing it to collapse and land on its face. As the titan attempted to crawl towards the ghoul, he just unzipped his mask calmly as he stared at it, "I told you, didn't I? You're not going to eat me, but I'm going to eat you!" the titan flung its arm towards Kaneki in an attempt to grab him, only to find its arm caught by a single tentacle, wrapped around its wrist. Kaneki took a bite out of the titan's hand and two things surprised him, the flesh was incredibly hot, causing him to spit out the flesh, and upon spitting it out the flesh seemed to evaporate into steam. Looking back at the titan's hand, he noticed that the chunk he had taken out had healed completely, _"Their regeneration is better than mine"_ he admired _"but there is one spot that titans can't regenerate"_

He jumped onto the titan's back and climbed to its nape, taking a bite, he found that it didn't burn his tongue nor did it evaporate into steam, but it tasted incredibly sweet. He proceeded to rip out the titan's nape using nothing but his teeth before turning to the other titans, his kakugan staring daggers at them. "That's useful to know, so we won't have to keep using the Survey Corps' leftovers to keep ourselves fed. Now then, if I don't hurry, I won't be able to join up with the others" he spoke to himself before two more tentacles sprouted from his back. Latching onto the buildings nearby, he catapulted himself into the group of titans and attacked.

* * *

 **I think this chapter came out seeming a bit rushed, let me know what you think so far :)  
In the next part I'll reveal Eren as the titan, tell me if there's anything you want to see or anything like that  
I'm debating whether to have the ghouls try and keep Eren a secret, I'm undecided as to whether they'll actually succeed or not, tell me what you think**


	9. Shifters

Jean smashed through the window and rolled to a stop, turning to look around him, he saw about two thirds of the group that had followed him. Falling to his knees, he panicked _"How many of our comrades died on my orders as I took advantage of my comrade's sacrifice?"_ he thought in despair before looking to his right, under a table, to see two soldiers, one male and one female, the female covered in blood. "Wait, you guys are from the supply depot, right?"

"Y-yeah" the soldier stuttered before Jean grabbed him and delivered a fist to the side of his head "YOU COWARDS, YOU LEFT US ON OUR OWN! PEOPLE ARE DEAD BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T HAVE THE GUTS TO DO YOUR JOBS!" Marco held Jean back as he screamed at the pathetic soldiers

The female soldier sobbed as she ran to help her pummelled comrade, "The titans were coming at us from every angle! They overran the supply room-""IT'S YOUR JOB DEAL WITH IT AND BACK US UP ANYWAY!" he spat back before a voice echoed down the halls "Incoming!"

With a loud crash, the wall of the command centre was blown apart as a titan's face poked in at them. "Damnit, there are too many people here, they can smell us!" Immediately the soldiers descended into panic "Get further in!" "We can't!" "Where are Kaneki, Touka and Mikasa?!" "They're all dead by now!"

Jean stood in front of the large hole in the wall as two titans stared in at him _"It's obvious. I guess this is how reality is. I mean, if you stop and think about it, it's obvious. There's no winning, not against them"_ His thoughts were interrupted by a large fist slamming into the titans' heads, sending them flying, to reveal the culprit, a fifteen metre titan with a weird jaw.

Through one of the windows next to him emerged Touka, Mikasa, Connie and Armin.

"Mikasa! You're alive!"

"Whew, I was running on fumes. We did it though, just barely, but we did" Smiling, Connie patted Armin on the back a little too hard, "You're a certified genius! As far as I know, your word is law! Check it out! We found an abnormal that attacks other titans! The best part, he couldn't care less about us! This thing is our ticket out of here!"

"You think a titan's gonna help us? You're out of your mind if you think this'll work-" "It is working" Misaka interrupted Jean "For some reason, it's rampaging against them. Stand back and watch. In any case, that thing is our best shot at getting out of here alive"

"She's right, you know? You just need to focus on getting our supplies right now" Touka informed Jean as she began scanning the room, "By the way, where's Kaneki? I thought he'd be here with you" Jean froze up at the dreaded question, noticing his reaction, Touka walked up to Jean. She was shorter than him but he felt very intimidated by the girl, well aware of her strength and her tendency to get violent. "Where? Is? Kaneki? "

Hesitatingly he gave his response, "Kaneki agreed to be the bait to lure away most of the titans on the way here…" Touka was silent, her bangs preventing her face from being seen by the taller boy, "…if he hadn't had done that, we'd all have been wiped out indefinitely" he defended, expecting for the girl to hit him

"Did he…say anything… before he left?" Touka asked him

"Y-Y-Yeah, he did" he covered his right eye with his hand, "He said that he's going 'all-out' against them… but I doubt that even he-" "Oh, is that what he said?" Touka's voice was very strained and filled with a mixture of despair and fury, "If that's the case then I feel bad for the titans, after all, he's really strong" she forced herself to respond

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah, he's way too strong to die so easily, r-right?" Jean was panicking now, he'd never seen Touka get like this before and he certainly didn't want to be dealt a blow from the scarily strong girl.

"Armin, think of something to deal with the titans in the supply room" she instructed as she tried to take her mind off a certain white-haired half breed, to no avail _"I thought we'd been over this already, no more leaving me behind, shitty Kaneki! What if he gets careless and ends up dead? The message he left was obvious, he's going to be using his kagune, there's no way he could die when he's using that. But what if he gets seen, what would happen? Is he wearing his mask? No, that wouldn't matter as much because of his hair sticking out like a sore thumb. Would he try to leave again to make sure they don't find me out too? NO! I won't let him do that again!"_ Touka resolved

* * *

Armin's plan to deal with the titans in the supply room was risky, using himself and others as bait while the most skilled ones snuck up on the titans and killed them. They just had to wait for the signal, once they shoot out the titans' eyes, they could move out. The waiting was hell, the titans got closer and closer to their friends but there was nothing they could do yet, except watch as Marco and Armin tried to keep anyone from shooting too early

"Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

NOW!" With a fierce volley of bullets rained down on the eyes of the titans, temporarily impairing their vision, just long enough for Touka, Mikasa, Jean, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Sasha and Connie to run along the rafters and strike their napes. "Did everyone get their targets?!" The question was quickly answered as Sasha and Connie's titans turned to face them, Sasha backed away slowly, almost paralysed by fear, "S-S-Sorry a-about that" she stuttered out as the 4m titan prepared to pounce on her. Diving out of its path she screamed. Mikasa quickly climbed onto the titan's back and executed it as Connie's titan walked towards him, backing him into a wall. Terrified, he closed his eyes and surrendered to his fate as the titan's arm reached out to him. His body turned numb, he couldn't feel a thing, but he heard a familiar cracking, the cracking of bones that he had heard over and over since the titans had attacked. He assumed that either he or someone nearby had been grabbed and the titan had crushed them between its jaws. Cracking his eyes open to see the fate that awaited him, he was filled with a mixture of relief, admiration and shock. Time seemed to almost stop completely for the bald boy, he watched as the titan's arm that had reached out to him was now bending the wrong way and with his knee buried deep in the titan's elbow was a white-haired comrade that had been presumed dead. "KANEKI!" with a yell, time began to flow again. The titan didn't seem too fussed about its arm being broken and bent out of shape as it's face gave no indication of discomfort, or even acknowledgement that it's arm had been broken, as it continued to try to use the broken arm, to no avail. The white-haired boy ran straight towards the titan, ducking under its arms that tried to grab him, and upon getting close to the titan he delivered one of its knees a devastating kick that shattered the titan's knee, causing it to lose its balance and fall onto one knee, as Annie jumped from the rafters again and cut the titan down.

"Th-Thanks a lot!" Connie thanked his saviours, to which the only conformation he got was a "It's fine" from Annie, while Kaneki gave no response as he fell onto his back

"Hey, are you okay?" Connie asked his saviour, leaning over him to see obvious signs of exhaustion covering him. Kaneki's face was covered in sweat, his chest was rising high with each breath he struggled to take, just what had he been doing? _"Oh, yeah! Jean said that Kaneki had lured away all the other titans so that they could advance"_ Connie remembered before coming to a horrifying realisation of what his presence meant "Wait! You didn't bring back the titans you lured away, did you?!" he screamed

"All… dead" Kaneki spoke between deep breaths

"Kaneki!" Jean ran over to him, "You're alive, how did you…?"

"He killed all the titans that were following him!" Connie answered for his friend, knowing that he needed to rest a bit more

"What?! But there were about 20 of them, at least!" Jean reasoned

"Jean, you just watched him break a 4m titan's limbs with nothing but his own strength, I don't think you're in any position to doubt it" A calm voice forced Jean to accept the explanation, looking back he saw Mikasa standing proud, watching the one-eyed ghoul closely, not knowing exactly how he had managed to perform such a feat of strength.

"Kaneki…" a familiar voice spoke to him, "you moron!" with that, Touka delivered him a fist to his stomach from above, causing him to groan from the pain. Usually he wouldn't have been too affected but he was completely exhausted and therefore very weak. Forcing himself to sit up, he clutched at his stomach "That was a bit excessive, wasn't it?" he asked, his voice was strained and his breathing uneven. The only response he got was two arms wrapping around his back as he was pulled into a hug, "I thought you weren't gonna go off on your own anymore!" she spoke quietly but sternly, Jean set the rest of the recruits off to refill their gas to give the two a moment.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, Touka" he relaxed his hold on his stomach and let one of his arms snake its way around the waist of his friend

"This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to avoid" she buried her face in his chest

"Yeah, I know-" "Then why did you do it?!" she all but screamed at him

"Because of the same reason that you went off to follow Mikasa, because I wanted to make sure my friends survived. It would've been impossible for Jean and the others to have gotten here if I hadn't drawn the titans away"

"That still doesn't make it okay"

"I'm aware, but I won't just do nothing and let my friends die when I can help them" his face was serious before it twisted in pain as a hand was brought to his back

"You're a lot nicer than you look, you know that?" Connie interrupted the two with a smile, patting Kaneki on the back a little too hard

"Yeah" Sasha added on, "You look really scary but you're really a big softie, aren't you?"

Kaneki let out a small chuckle, Touka let herself smile a bit as she lifted her face from his chest, "Yeah, Kaneki. You look way too scary to be a softie, you should really work on that" she teased him

"I'll try my best" he smiled at her before moving to stand and offering Touka a hand up, "I found out some useful info while I was out there, I'll tell you while we get our gear ready" he whispered as he pulled her up

* * *

As they prepared their gear to leave, Kaneki recounted what he observed when he fought the titans, "…then I entered the building and saw Connie backed up against a wall with a titan reaching out to him, so I quickly took off my mask and ran full speed and tried to make sure the titan didn't grab him"

"And the best way to do that was to break the titan's arm? Not get Connie out of the way?" Touka asked sarcastically

"Point taken, but it worked and that's what counts" he defended "But still, I am a bit concerned. Since the titans can be eaten by us, I think that they may have some connection to humans"

"But it's just the nape that we can eat?"

"Yeah"

"The size of their weak spot is about 1m by 10cm, on a human that's about the size of the area that goes from a brain to the spinal cord" Touka showed off her knowledge in biology

"You think that a human is in there, controlling the titan?"

"It's a possibility, nothing more, but since we can eat them, it doesn't seem too far-fetched, does it?"

"No, but it does mean we have even more questions, how are humans able to control them? Why are they eating other humans? What about the Armoured and Colossal titans? Are they the titans' leaders or something?"

"Who knows, but we might as well try to find out, I don't want anyone else I care about to get killed" Touka remembered Mina and Eren, all the fun little talks they had had together during training, she quickly silenced those thoughts, she could deal with them later

"Hey, Kaneki, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jean appeared in front of the two ghouls

"Yeah, sure. Touka, we can think about it some more later on, okay?" Touka nodded before she stood up and left the two boys on their own.

"Look, I have to ask, when you left me in charge you said that I'm a better leader than you, why did you say that?" he sat down next to Kaneki

"Because you're not as strong as I am. You, like everyone else, are terrified of dying, so you can understand the feelings of others a lot better than I can" Kaneki didn't even look up from his borrowed gear that he was trying to put on.

"That's almost exactly what Marco said" Jean admitted

"Well, Marco is right"

"Okay, fine. Another question, how the fuck did you get a girl like Touka?!" Kaneki froze up before face palming

"In what way have I 'got' Touka?" he asked honestly

"Are you serious? Are you that dense?! And I thought Eren was dense, this is just ridiculous!"

"What do you mean?" Kaneki was completely lost now

"You know what? I'm not gonna say anything, I'm just gonna let you figure it out on your own. Seriously, what is it with them liking the dense ones?" Jean got up and left Kaneki alone to ponder his words

"Kaneki, time to go!" Armin called out to him as he ran past towards the exit

"Right!" he called back and followed, "Where are Touka and Mikasa?" he asked once outside. Looking up, he found his answer, the two were in a rooftop staring at something. Armin flew up to the two, "What are you doing here? We have to go now!"

"Look there" Mikasa issued towards something ahead of her, upon seeing it, Armin gasped and recoiled in fear. The abnormal that had bought them the time to refill their gas was being cannibalised by a by a large group of titans.

"Cannibalism? Can it not regenerate like the others?" Armin asked nobody in particular

"This may sound silly, but I was hoping he'd be the key for us, help mankind break the cycle just enough to give us a little ray of hope" Mikasa admitted

"You're right, he's far too valuable to just let die, there's too much we could learn from him" Reiner agreed, Jean had a bit of difficulty believing it

"Are you serious, we can finally get out of this nightmare and you want to stay?!"

"Think about it, an abnormal would be a far better weapon to fight titans than a mere cannon?" Annie defended the titan

"Do you hear yourselves? He's not our friend, he's a titan!"

"Oh no! It's the one that ate Thomas" Armin noticed the lanky, blonde titan getting closer

Evidently the abnormal noticed it too, as it sprang from its position on the ground and ran towards the aforementioned titan, other titans still holding on to his arms which were ripped off as it ran. In the absence of its arms, the titan used its jaw and grabbed the nape of Thomas' killer, before throwing it around like a rag doll to kill the surrounding titans. The titan dropped the corpse from its mouth and stood tall above the surroundings, despite its injuries, no arms and almost the entirety of its chest had been ripped out, causing its ribcage to become visible. Releasing a mighty roar, the titan collapsed, causing a tremor that all but knocked the soldiers off their feet.

Steam was released from the titan's body, especially from its nape, and through the steam a figure emerged. It was unclear to all of the soldiers, save one, one who would know that figure anywhere. _"Please, please, please don't be dead"_ she pleaded as she approached the figure. The figure began to fall forwards, where Mikasa caught him, and held him close, before putting her ear to his chest and hearing his heartbeat. He was alive, Eren Yeager was alive. Upon this revelation, Mikasa let lose the full force of her emotions as she began to sob loudly.

Jumping down, Armin examined the boy, his clothing was torn, but his severed limbs had grown back. "But this is impossible"

Kaneki and Touka exchanged a look before announcing, "I don't think we should tell anyone about this"

This caused all eyes to be focused on them, "If the military finds out about Eren's ability, they may not think he's of benefit to them. If that happens, he could be killed on the spot"

"Is that really a bad thing?" Jean muttered under his breath, winning him deadly glares from Kaneki and Touka

"Yes, Jean, it is. Eren is our friend and comrade, we all thought he was dead and now we've found him alive" Touka scolded him, "I don't understand why you'd be so pessimistic about this"

"Surely the military would be able to appreciate the value Eren has to humanity" Armin interjected, "They also have more resources than we do, more information on the titans, everything. It would be better to let the military know"

"Armin, are you that dumb? If they find out about his ability, it's more likely that they'll fear him and try to kill him" Kaneki spoke harshly to him, causing Armin to recoil

"This is way too complicated, what do you guys think?" Jean asked Reiner, Bertolt and Annie, who seemed to be huddled together, discussing it separately

"…then if he's the coordinate, we just need to take him with us" Reiner whispered

"Then we can go home?" Bertolt asked

"Yeah, then we can go home"

"If you're going to discuss the matter of Eren, why not do it so we can all hear you?" Kaneki asked them, causing them to separate quickly as Reiner sputtered out a reply

"Umm, we should talk to the military and get their view before we do anything" to this, the trio's faces fell, apparently he didn't speak for everyone, not even himself, he probably misspoke in an attempt to hide whatever they were talking about.

"I agree, Reiner. We should find out what the military's position is, then we can decide on whether to run away or not" Armin reasoned

"I won't let anyone take him from me again" Mikasa's voice was overflowing with bloodlust

"Tch, fine!" Touka resigned before turning to Kaneki, "We're not gonna leave him alone until we know he'll be safe" she informed him

"Agreed"

* * *

Once the military was informed of what had come to pass, Eren, Mikasa and Armin were summoned on their own, while Kaneki and the others were forced to the side-lines with everyone else and were ordered to relax. Left alone, the ghouls were given the chance to think about what they had learned. "So Eren can turn into a titan" Touka began

"That means that humans can become titans, like we thought" Kaneki responded

"But Eren didn't turn into an ordinary titan, he turned into one and then rampaged against the other ones, that means he had some control over his titan form"

"Does that mean that the colossal and armoured titans are like Eren?"

"I presume so, but finding them may be rather difficult, after all they could be anywhere, perhaps not even inside the walls"

"That's rather unlikely"

"And why's that?"

"If their aim was to wipe out everyone within the walls, they would've just broken through all the walls already"

"What do you mean?"

"Once the colossal titan appeared for the first time five years ago, it smashed the outer gate to a district named Shiganshina then the Armoured titan broke through the gate to wall Maria"

"Yeah, that's right, so?"

"Why did they stop there? Why not keep going and break through all the walls in one fell swoop?"

"Because that is not their final aim… are they searching for something?"

"I think so, but what are they looking for?"

"…Do you think it's Eren?"

"It's possible, but if that was the case, why didn't they take him during our three years of training? We were untrained and underprepared for it, so what stopped them?"

"…They didn't know… Eren never used his titan power until now!"

"You're right, and since the armoured titan didn't show up, it means they've found him" Kaneki's face contorted as he realised something he wished he hadn't

"What's wrong?" Touka asked, concerned

"Armin said that he watched Eren get eaten, that means nobody could've seen him transform, right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"To have found out that Eren was the shifter, they must have seen him come out of the titan's body"

Touka's face contorted in a similar manner as she realised what Kaneki meant "The enemy is among those who were there, so it's one or more of our friends"

"Yeah"

The two ghouls let their heads fall as despair took over them, not for long though, as cannon firing and a loud crash of lightning came down towards the wall, "What was that?!"

Seeing Reiner, Bertolt and Annie spring off into action towards the site, the two ghouls followed them as quickly as possible, Jean following after them. The two ghouls got closer to the sight and the familiar sweet smell filled their noses, _"That's it, it's their smell. Maybe all the shifters smell like that. If that's so, we know who to keep an eye on already"_ Touka realised as they got closer.

They found the site before them to be rather peculiar, to say the least, before them stood the upper body of a half-formed titan and in its ribcage stood Armin, Mikasa and Eren. Kaneki and Touka observed from a distance with the others, three of which's faces filled with a look of sheer panic. "THERE IS THE PROOF! HE IS NOT A HUMAN, HE IS A TITAN!" stood in front of the deformed titan was a large group of soldiers, armed to the teeth with guns and ODM gear and leading them stood a creepy-looking captain with a beard who appeared completely terrified by the sight before him. The ghouls needed only a single look at the situation before them to understand it, they were right, it wasn't going well for Eren and the others.

The two ghouls noticed Armin coming out of the titan's body with his arms in the air in surrender, they couldn't hear what he was saying to the soldiers, but it seemed to be having the desired effect, as the soldiers began to lower their guard. Unfortunately the bearded freak seemed to yell something that made the soldiers resume their positions as they prepared to kill them. He rose his arm to give the signal to kill them, and the ghouls were left powerless to stop it, all they could do was watch until the captain's arm was grabbed by an older man, presumably his commanding officer. This commander seemed like he was going to use Eren for the military effort, as he had Eren and the others given ODM gear and they climbed to the top of the wall. It wasn't long after that that the order for all soldiers to gather before the gate was given. The commander that they saw earlier revealed himself to be commander Pixis, leader of the Garrison regiment, and behind him stood Eren. Pixis gave instructions as to what to do for the mission to retake Trost district, they were to act as bait and distract the titans as Eren uses his titan power to lift a large boulder and use it to seal up the gate. It was a rather simple plan, perhaps this was Pixis' way of testing whether humanity can rely on Eren's ability. Pixis informed the soldiers that participation was not mandatory, taking advantage of the opportunity, Kaneki pulled Touka away with all the soldiers who wanted to retreat.

Touka was not happy at being dragged away, she kicked Kaneki in the side as soon as they stopped in an alleyway, "What gives?! Why are we not out there, helping out with everyone else?!" she snapped at him

Kaneki hushed the girl by putting his finger to her lips, he whispered, "We could be of more use if we used our kagune's, right?"

"Yeah, but we can't…" Touka realised what Kaneki was planning, "Do you have your mask on you?" she asked

Pulling his black, eyepatched mask out from his back pocket, he responded calmly "Always"

"Well then, Eyepatch, we'd better grab something like a hoodie to hide that hair of yours, anyone who's ever seen you would know who you are immediately" she informed him with a smile on her face as she took out her mask

"Good idea, Rabbit" Kaneki smiled back to her

Swiping a hooded cloak each from a nearby shop, the ghouls snuck their way into the Trost district. Knowing where the boulder was, on which the entire plan depended, the ghouls headed towards it, running along the rooftops, leaving their ODM gear behind, so that fewer people suspected them being in the military. The ghouls found themselves at the boulder rather quickly, Eren and his squad were nowhere to be seen, so the ghouls decided to wait inside a nearby house, looking out the window every now and then to check on the mission's progress.

* * *

 **I ended up deciding that Eren won't join up with Kaneki and Touka, not yet at least, but they will be gaining an ally soon, see if you can guess who it is :P  
I felt like if Eren didn't get involved in the military, even just a little bit, it would be difficult for me to include Levi or Hange later on (which I really want to do)  
I know what I want to do for the next chapter, but any input would be very much appreciated :)**


	10. Allies or Enemies?

It was a good hour or so before the ghouls heard a loud crash of lightning just outside, looking out, they saw Eren in his titan form standing in front of the boulder. However instead of lifting the boulder, he turned towards Mikasa on a nearby roof, and punched at her, to which she narrowly dodged. Touka and Kaneki checked that their masks were on and their hoods pulled up before jumping out of the window, towards Eren. Mikasa was hanging from the hair that hung in front of his face as she tried to bring him back to reality, to which Eren attempted to hit her, resulting in him punching himself in the face as she dodged out of the way. "Moron" 'Rabbit' commented

"Hey, don't forget, I ended up losing control like that too once I became a ghoul" 'Eyepatch' reminded her

"You're right, let me correct myself, COMPLETE AND UTTER MORON!" she insulted the titan, teasing her partner at the same time

"That's fair, I guess. I'll deal with Eren, can you keep the others off of me?"

"I can, but what are you going to do?"

"What did you do when I lost control?"

"I beat you senseless" she admitted with a small amount of pride in her voice

"Then I'll do the same"

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"The titans' weak spot is the nape, so he's probably in there. I can deal with it, just focus on keeping the others from interfering" he instructed as he activated his kagune and launched himself towards Eren

"Yes, sir" Rabbit spoke sarcastically, somewhat annoyed at Eyepatch for acting like a leader, as she released he own kagune and followed after him

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" one of the soldiers screamed as he saw the two hooded figures heading towards Eren

Mikasa observed the two figures closely, she couldn't see much of them due to the long, hooded cloaks that they were wearing, however all she needed to see was the four red tentacles emerging from the back of the taller one and the single large wing on the other one. They were unlikely to be allies, and what were they trying to do with Eren? Upon coming to the conclusion that they were going to harm Eren, Mikasa shot off towards the two unknowns and prepared to attack. The shorter one jumped towards her in an attempt to prevent her access to Eren, allowing its wing to dissipate, it brought its leg up and kicked Mikasa in the chest, to which she was barely able to block. The strength within their small body was incredible, despite having blocked the kick, Mikasa still took substantial damage, as she found herself sent flying backwards, where she collided with a rooftop with a crash. Looking back to her assailant, she saw a mask under its hood of a white rabbit, unleashing its wing once more, they warned "Don't interfere!" From its wing, hundreds of small, red shards were sent flying towards her and the other soldiers, embedding themselves just in front of their feet. One of the other soldiers launched a red smoke signal, indicating that a problem has arisen.

"She really enjoys playing the badass, doesn't she?" Eyepatch observed his partner before focusing on the task at hand, using one of his tentacles he pierced the nape of the titan before him, causing it to roar loudly before calming down shortly afterwards. Leaning in close, he spoke to the person inside, "Eren, I'm going to make this quick because there's not much time for us, get up!" he ordered the titan, "If you don't get up now, you'll be eaten alive!" not receiving any sign of acknowledgement from the titan, Eyepatch attempted to remind Eren of his own reasons for joining the military, "Eren, I thought you were going to wipe out all the titans, you were going to explore the world beyond the walls, was that all a lie?"

 _"_ _NO!"_ the human within the titan denied the idea strongly, _"I will go beyond the wall! I will wipe out the titans! I will be free!"_ the titan body started to twitch

"What about Mikasa? She is being put in danger because you are unable to control yourself"

Without even a single sound, the titan began to move, standing up, it walked to the boulder and lifted it onto its shoulders as it made its way to the breach in the wall.

* * *

Mikasa was getting anxious, not only were there two unknown assailants who had extraordinary abilities, such as their tentacles/wing, they also seemed to have more strength than even she possessed. These two assailants were doing something to Eren but she couldn't tell what, but the worst part was that the other soldiers who she was sent there with were trying to leave Eren with them!

"You don't need to think about it, just give the order!" one of the soldiers requested of their squad leader, "It's not your fault, the plan was already a gamble, at best. We all knew that, but it didn't work out. All right? We're gonna climb the wall with our squads" he made his position clear that he didn't want to stay here and die, either at the hands of a titan or the masked thing standing before them.

They wanted to abandon Eren to die, that was something that Mikasa found to be unforgiveable, she readied her blades as she walked towards the two squad leaders who wished to retreat, only to be stopped by her own leader. "Wait, Ackerman. Your squads are to keep the titans as far from us as possible, my squad will deal with the two new arrivals. Mikasa, can I count on you to help out?"

"Yes, sir" she responded immediately

"Go and protect your boyfriend" Mikasa's face dawned a light pink colour as she stuttered out "He's family"

Unbeknownst to them, Rabbit could hear every word they were saying and she was very amused by what she heard. _"I couldn't have put it better myself"_ she complimented the squad leader internally. Hearing that they were going to attack her didn't worry her at all, instead she began to stretch a bit to prepare for the incoming attack. Mikasa made the first move, charging the ghoul head-on, bringing her blades up, she attempted to slash at the ghoul's masked face. She never expected the rabbit mask-wearer to bring up one of its arms and block the blades, the two pushed against each other for a moment, Mikasa using every ounce of her strength to hold up against her opponent's overwhelming power, while Rabbit still only used one arm as she tried to push her opponent back. Noticing the other soldiers circling around her, heading for Eyepatch and Eren, she decided to get serious, grabbing one of Mikasa's blades with her free hand, Rabbit crushed it in her palm, causing Mikasa to falter out of shock. The idea of someone crushing a military-class blade in their hands without even receiving a scratch was just unthinkable. Taking advantage of the opening, Rabbit roundhouse-kicked Mikasa's side, sending her straight into another rooftop, turning to those who were heading for her comrade, she jumped as high as she could and activated her kagune. Shooting off her crystalline shards in front of all the approaching soldiers, causing them all to halt their advance, she was caught off guard when Mikasa appeared behind her, apparently she had already recovered from the kick to her side. Delivering Rabbit a kick of her own to the back of the head, she sent her crashing to the ground, where she landed on her back with a grunt.

Pissed off, Rabbit prepared to launch herself back at her assailant, until she heard a familiar voice calling out, "Mikasa, what's happened?!" It was none other than Armin Arlet

"Eren lost control of himself, we couldn't do anything, and then these two turned up and attacked us!" Mikasa informed her friend, hey eyes still fixed on the winged attacker

"Just keep them busy, I'll deal with Eren" Armin instructed, causing Mikasa to warn him "No! Armin, there's another one with Eren!"

Armin looked at Eren's titan form and noticed another cloaked individual standing on Eren's shoulder, with a red tentacle coming from his back, embedded in Eren's nape.

 _"_ _Are they trying to kill Eren? No, they've had plenty of time to do that? Are they trying to get him out of there? No… same problem. Could they be trying to wake Eren up?"_ Armin ran through the possibilities of the two's aim

He came to the conclusion that they were trying to wake Eren up, as he noticed Eren's titan body moving towards the boulder, which he lifted onto his shoulders as he headed towards the wall.

"All troops, follow Eren! Keep him alive at all costs!" the squad leader ordered

The cloaked individual who woke Eren up jumped from Eren's shoulder and onto a rooftop before heading down to his comrade on the ground. Offering her a hand, he spoke "Sorry, it took so long"

"About time, stupid Eyepatch" Rabbit scolded him as she took his hand and was pulled up

Armin, headed towards the two, not an ounce of fear in his approach, he landed in front of the two, "Who are you two?" he asked

The two ghouls pulled back their hoods just enough for Armin to see their masked faces, the sight of Eyepatch's left eye seemed to cause Armin to take a step backwards. "We are Anteiku" Rabbit responded to his question

"Why did you help Eren out?"

"Because it's Anteiku's policy to help each other out" the two spoke together

Before Armin could ask his next question, a loud lightning strike went off near to the wall, causing the two ghouls to spring into action, rushing straight past Armin.

* * *

It turned out that, evidently, **they** weren't going to allow Eren to re-seal the gate, at the breach stood a titan. He was considerably bigger than the average titan, it was much bulkier, almost like a professional weightlifter or something and its entire body was covered in armour-life skin. Clearly this was the Armoured titan that broke through wall Maria five years ago.

The ghouls moved as fast as they could towards the breach in the wall, passing by Eren on the way. Activating their kagunes, the two charged the titan head-on. Rabbit launched the first attack, sending hundreds of crystals towards the face of the Armoured titan, which he blocked by bringing its arms up, covering its face. The crystals embedded themselves in the titan's thick armour before dissipating, leaving a large number of small cracks in the titan's armour-like skin. Not wanting to deal with them, the Armoured titan ran straight past the two ghouls and headed towards Eren.

"That thing just ignored us completely!" Rabbit felt annoyed at being underestimated

"That just means he's an easier target if he won't fight back!" Eyepatch encouraged her as he launched himself at the titan, digging his tentacles into its knees, causing it to fall. The titan's armour was considerably stronger than they had expected, even with Eyepatch's rinkaku, it was difficult to pierce all the way through.

Rabbit landed on the titan's nape and crystallised her kagune in preparation to kill it, only to be kicked off, looking at the culprit, she noticed that, like them, they were wearing a cloak to remain anonymous, but unlike them, they used ODM gear… and they had that same smell. They were another shifter. In an attempt to stop them from transforming, Eyepatch jumped at the figure. They swung their blades at him, only for him to catch them in his hands, not recieving even a single cut on him. Throwing their blades aside, Kaneki grabbed at the figure, their frame was surprisingly small, his grip was tight on them, but he realised something. He had just made a terrible mistake. _"I don't know how they trigger their transformation so how do I stop it? All I know is that once they transform a lightning bolt… FUCK!"_ he expected them to transform immediately and kill him, but they didn't. They put up little resistance, instead they uttered one word "Run" he had heard the voice but he did not heed its warning. He recognised the voice and its owner, he spoke softly "Annie?"

At the mention of her name, Annie looked up at the person she had just been attacked by, she was just able to see under his hood. She didn't see a face she recognised, only a masked individual with a weird eye "You know me… Kaneki?" she saw a small amount of white hair under their hood that gave away their identity.

"I guess Marco wasn't enough, huh?" she spoke to herself, a sad smile on her face, her eyes watering uncontrollably, "I'm sorry, Kaneki" she spoke through the river of tears.

Before he knew it, it struck, the lightning that comes with their transformations. It caused him to scream out in pain, even after all the pain he'd endured, he had never felt anything like this. He collapsed to the ground as Annie transformed into a 14m titan with blonde hair, she was dubbed "The Female Titan"

 _"_ _Good job, Annie"_ thought the person inside the Armoured titan as he pushed himself to his feet, his body fully healed. Looking down at the being that had brought him to his knees, the Armoured titan laughed internally, _"How do you like that, monster?!"_ he kicked the creature, knocking it into a nearby building, _"Now, where's the other one?"_ he moved towards the other one who was kneeled on the ground, looking at what used to be her partner, now it was just a red stain on the ground. Reaching out his arm to crush her, the Armoured titan was caught by surprise when his arm was caught by his comrade, Annie, shaking her head disapprovingly. _"Damnit! We've been over this already, Annie!"_ he became irritated at the female titan, but she remained firm, not letting go of his forearm, _"Come on, we don't need to kill her too, she's not our target anyway"_ she motioned for them to leave. However the Armoured titan was fixed on the idea of killing the winged girl.

* * *

She was frozen solid, she couldn't even scream, she could just kneel there and watch as everything unfolded around her. She could see the armoured monstrosity trying to get at her, she could see the female one behind it, trying to hold it back. She could see titans as they entered through the gates, she could see the soldiers that tried to lure them away.

But none of it mattered to her anymore. He was dead, she had nothing left now, he was the only link she had with her old life, but he was gone now. She could feel her face getting warm as tears began to fall from her eyes. From a distance, it didn't look like anything was wrong with her, but if you got as close to her as the Armoured and Female titans did, you'd see their body shaking violently and water could be seen dripping from the bottom of her rabbit mask. "…Kaneki…" her voice little more than a whisper.

Annie noticed the tears coming from the bottom of their mask and realised who it was _"Touka…of course it is…they were so close"_ her realisation caused her guard to slip, which the Armoured titan took advantage off, slamming it's fist into the side of her head before turning to the ghoul and launching it's fist straight at her, he was going to crush her, then nothing could stop them from getting Eren.

With a crash, the titan's fist hit the ground… shortly followed by the rest of his arm, just short of his target. The loss of his arm proved to be rather painful to the titan, causing it to roar loudly, steam bursting from its mouth. Scanning the area for the being responsible, the Armoured titan only managed to see a blur rushing around in his field of vision. The blur stopped moving, just for a moment, but that was all that any of the three of them needed, before them stood a being that defied all logic, it had just been struck by lightning bolt and kicked full-force by a 15m mass of muscle, yet it stood there, seemingly even stronger than before. It was him, Kaneki. However the sight of him both filled with joy and terrified Touka at the same time, she was ecstatic that he was alive but she was terrified of the bird-like mask that had covered half of his face, a single eye in the middle, twitching around manically, but the two dark kagune that were coming from his back reminded her of something she had heard about Kaneki's torture at the hands of Yamori. The sick bastard had put something in Kaneki's ears, something his kagune were replicating the shape of, a centipede.

 _"_ _Kaneki's a kakuja?!"_ she snapped back to reality as the incomplete-kakuja disappeared again, this time removing the left leg of the Armoured titan as it launched itself through the air.

In mid-air the ghoul began to laugh manically, "HAHAHAHAAAAAAA! SOOOO WEEEEEAK! DON'T YOOOU KNOOOOW?! IN THIS WORLD, THE WEAK ARE DEVOURED BY THE STRONG! AND WHO IS THE STRONGEST?! I AM! I FUCKING AM!" he screamed

In an attempt to restrain him, Annie hardened her hands and grabbed ahold of the two centipedes. "Kaneki, calm down!" Touka called out, only to be ignored as his voice filled with even further madness, "MY FINGERS… ON THE BENCH… CENTIPEDES… IN… MY…EARS!"

From his back emerged four further tentacles, not the red, well formed tentacles she was used to seeing, instead they seemed to be fused together at certain places, and they had become stained in black.

"1000 minus… 1000 minus seven is what?" he asked the titan who held onto him clicking his index finger with his thumb, as his four tentacles ripped the titan's hands from it's body at the wrists, causing her to drop him.

Upon landing, Kaneki shot straight back up to the face of Annie's titan form, where she raised her arms up to block the attack she knew was coming, she hardened her skin. It didn't help her. The two centipedes shot straight through her crystalline skin, passing through with little to no effort, entering her eyes, ripping them to nothing. He laughed again, he was descending into complete madness, he was not interested in anything anymore, he just wanted to destroy.

He paid it no mind when a giant, armoured hand pushed him aside as the Armoured titan grabbed it's companion and ran further into the city. Instead he focused on his next targets, a squad of four men, luring two titans away from the breach in the wall. He shot off towards them, followed by Touka, running as fast as she could to stop him before he could do something he'd regret.

"That's it, Eren! We're almost to the wall!" a certain blonde haired boy called out to the titan carrying a large boulder, completely unaware of the events that had just transpired in the space they stood in.

* * *

She had used her kagune too much, she was running on empty, her stamina almost completely drained, she could probably only manage one attack in her current state. She ran towards the group of soldiers, screaming bloody murder, hoping to warn them of what was heading their way. The soldiers paid her no mind, they thought she was probably just another one of their comrades who was being eaten by a titan, another person they couldn't save.

Fist it was the two titans, not seeing anything, they just fell, their napes ripped off messily. Next was the first soldier, he saw no warning sign, instead he just felt a large amount of pain in his chest. He looked down to see a bloodstained hand reaching out of it. Falling to the ground, he died, not uttering a single word, the soldiers behind him prepared their blades to take on their new enemy, only to see two black centipedes emerging from their enemy's back. "What the fuck?! Is fighting titans not enough?! Now we have to deal with this monster!?" One of the soldiers lost his nerve, launching his hooks into the roof a nearby building, hoping to escape, only to find that while his hooks may have landed, they were no longer attached to his wires. He looked back at the enemy before him, to find him standing less than a foot away from him, _"When did he move? Such speed"_ Before he could even scream, the two centipedes dug through his torso together, then diverging and ripping the man in half.

His two comrades attempted to flee, only to have a centipede grip onto their legs, holding them in place. Pulling one of them close to him, Kaneki took a bit out of their neck, relishing the taste of warm, fresh, juicy flesh. "Delicious"

The other soldier screamed as his comrade was being eaten alive in front of him, he pushed his ODM gear to its limits, using as much gas as he could, trying to escape desperately, to no avail. He heard a girl's voice screaming, "KANEKI!" and not a full second later, the soldier found himself flung like a rag doll towards the location of the voice, only to be ripped apart by red shards.

Touka watched as Kaneki mercilessly threw the man into the path of her attack, _"Damn it! That was meant to distract him so they could escape!"_ She had wasted the last use of her kagune, and she still had to deal with the half-kakuja in front of her. There seemed to be little hope of her accomplishing anything, but she did not run. She stood firm, staring down the creature before her as it dropped the corpse it was eating, before turning to her. "To-o-o-o-uka" it struggled to speak properly, its voice felt strained as it looked away from her, "Ru-ru-ru-ru-runn!" he raised his hands, trying to hide her from his sight, lest she be targeted by the monster he had become

"Kaneki?" she called the ghoul by his name, hoping he would come to his senses

"Ru-ru-ru-ruuun! Pleease! I don't waaant to hu-hurt you!" he begged her as his two centipedes began thrashing around uncontrollably, smashing everything within a 3m radius of him

"Kaneki…" she walked closer to him, standing at the edge of where the two centipedes could reach her, she stared at Kaneki who was screaming in agony as he fought for control over his own body.

"WHAT ARY YOU DOING?! RUN AWAY!" his voice was clear for the first time as he screamed at Touka, who remained still, watching him. "YES! RUN AWAY LITTLE RABBIT! THE HUNTSMAN'S COMING! HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU! HE'S GOING TO EAT YOU! HAHAHHAAHA-!" Kaneki laughed manically as he switched between personas

Touka took a single step forward, instantly receiving a cut on her left cheek, as one of the centipedes lashed out at her. Undeterred, she took another step forward, this time she received a small cut on her right forearm. Each step she took, she received another injury, but she kept on walking towards him. Kaneki leapt at her, biting into her right shoulder as he did so.

Touka wrapped her left arm around his back, gently stroking the back of his head, as she began "Well, you let me take a bite out of you once, I guess turnabout's fair play…" she spoke with a gentle smile on her face, twitching every so often from the pain, "Hey, Kaneki, do you remember what we talked about? Remember, back in training, you said that you wanted the strength to protect us? Do you remember what I told you, that you were just scared of being alone, and the reason you don't need to worry?" She pulled his head from her shoulder to look at him, eye to eye

"I said that I have no intention of leaving you alone, do you know why that is?" His face was covered in a purple bird-like mask, but what was visible of his face looked like it had been through the wars, covered in dirt and small cuts that hadn't yet healed. She looked not much better, she was considerably battered and bruised, the differences between their injuries were minimal, but, unlike him, she held a smile on her face that radiated warmth. Bringing her lips to her ears she whispered "…because I love you, Kaneki Ken" closing the distance between them, she kissed him

His kakuja mask began to dissipate as he surrendered to the kiss, his mind began to clear, as did his vision. Instead of seeing red, all he saw was her, and that was all he needed to see. Separating, purely for lack of air, Touka looked Kaneki in the eyes again, to see the face of the boy she fell in love with, not the monster that had taken control of him, his innocent face was filled with shock and his cheeks were pink. Her face dawned a giant smile, her cheeks were dusted pink and small tears of happiness began to fall from her eyes as she spoke, "Kaneki Ken! I love you… you giant idiot!" she teased as she pulled him into a hug, "Touka…" Kaneki could finally see what he'd done to her, her shoulder was still bleeding profusely, her other injuries had begun to heal already, he felt awful. He held onto her tightly as his eyes began to water "Touka… I'm so sorry… I'm so so sorry!" he released the flood gates

The two remained in that position for about 15 minutes before Touka began to shift, pulling her to face his own, Kaneki noticed that she had fallen asleep. _"Well, she must've been tired, today has been a long day already, and she deserves a rest"_ Kaneki shifted gently, trying his hardest not to wake her up. He picked up their masks and put them on Touka's lap where he balanced them before picking her up bridal-style as she walked towards the wall trying not to be noticed by any soldiers on the way.

* * *

Upon getting close to the wall he noticed the swarm of titans that were waiting at the bottom, reaching up at the large number of soldiers stood on top of the wall. There was no way that they could get through all of that unnoticed. Realising that the best plan would be to wait, Kaneki did just that, kicking in the door of a house, he made his way to the bedroom where he laid Touka down on the bed as he took a seat on the edge of the bed next to her. Following the example of his friend, Kaneki felt himself falling asleep, only to be awoken by the sound of ODM gear nearby. _"I'm not allowed even five minutes sleep?"_ he complained internally, as he moved quietly towards the front of the house. The front door swung open as Annie walked in, dropping a large bag onto the floor before declaring "So you ended up alright? That's good. We need to talk"

Sitting on the chairs in the living room, Kaneki asked her, "So… what is it you want to talk about?"

Looking around her surroundings, she asked "First, where's Touka?"

"She's upstairs, taking a much-deserved rest. If possible, could we keep this quiet, I'd rather not wake her?"

"That's fair enough, well, here goes… I am a titan shifter" she announced after taking a deep breath

"I'm aware" Kaneki informed her

"Are you aware of the identities of the others?" she asked calmly

"If I had to guess… Reiner's the Armoured titan and Bertolt's the Colossal titan but I don't think I've seen Ymir's titan form yet"

"Ymir's?" Annie looked perplexed

"Is Ymir not with you lot?"

"Wait… I see, so it's her, huh?"

"Care to share in what you've just figured out?"

"That depends, what are your intentions? How much do you know about us?"

"Not as much as I'd like to"

"Then allow me to enlighten you, our goal is to wipe out all of humanity within these walls, then take Ymir and Eren back with us to our home, where we will kill them and give their power to transform to another warrior, who in turn, will cause countless more atrocities at the order of our superiors" Annie spoke with a straight face

Kaneki couldn't respond immediately due to the shock of what she had just said but when he could, he spoke as calmly as he could, given the situation, "Why would you tell me this? You saw what I did, didn't you? I attacked you when you tried to interfere with them. I'm your enemy, so why would you tell me your plan?"

"Because I want you to stop us" Kaneki froze in shock again

"Why?"

"Because I am not going to let any more of my friends die needlessly" her face fell slightly, "…I killed Marco, you know?"

"What?!"

"I killed him, he overheard Reiner and Bertolt planning the attack that you foiled so Reiner ordered me to take of his ODM gear, which I did. The last I saw of him, he was in the jaws of a titan"

"I see…" he could understand, to a certain degree, she was a soldier, if she didn't follow her orders, in this case Reiner, she could be killed or worse

"Are you angry? That I killed Marco and tried to kill you and everyone else behind the walls?" she asked, her head lowered, her bangs hiding her eyes

"Yes, I can't deny that I'm angry at you for doing that... but I know that you had no other choice… however I am even more angry at myself, I got careless and ended up hurting those I care about" Annie raised her head at this, completely flabbergasted

"But it was my doing, I caused you to do it"

"No, this was caused by my lack of ability"

"That's enough of that!" a voice came from behind Kaneki. Turning to look, he saw Touka, leaning on the wall as she struggled to walk properly, her shoulder was still dripping with blood.

"Touka!" Kaneki rushed to her side and supported her as she tried to walk, "You should've stayed in bed"

"How could I stay in bed when two idiots were down here arguing about who hates themselves more?"

"That's not what we were arguing about" Annie informed her

"It sounded like it, 'it's my fault' 'no, it's my fault', you two sound like idiots" Touka scolded them as Kaneki helped her into a chair, "Now, I heard you two talking a bit but I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. Let me make sure I've got this right, you're a titan, whose goal is to wipe out all of humanity, but you are sick of killing so you want us to stop you and the others, is that right?"

"Yeah, pretty much"

"Okay, so why didn't you just ask us to help you stop them?"

"What do you mean?" Annie was confused at the question

"I mean, you asked us to stop you, but you didn't say that you were going to help, isn't that a bit rude, to ask us to do something because you're too weak to do it on your own?" Touka's voice was harsh

"But…" she sighed, "You're right, it was too much to ask-"

"I didn't say that!" Touka interrupted, "I said that it was rude, I didn't say that we wouldn't do it" Touka's face dawned a small smile, "It's Anteiku's policy to help each other out, besides, we don't want to lose anyone else either"

Annie's face lit up with joy, it was a strange sight to see, after all, they had rarely ever seen her smile, even just a little bit. "Thank you"

"It's fine, now, you've told us yours, so here's ours" Touka activated her kakugan, "We are ghouls"

"Ghouls aren't real" Annie deadpanned, causing the two ghouls to smile lightly

"I'm going to go see if there's any coffee in this place" Kaneki declared as he made his way to the kitchen

"I assure you, we are very much real" Touka informed Annie

"Ghouls? Like from the old fairy tales?" Annie was still doubtful

"Depends, what did they say about ghouls?" Touka asked, legitimately curious as to whether ghouls may have existed here or not

"The ghouls, man-eating monsters with incredible strength that even titans feared?" Touka let out a laugh at this

"You have some really creepy bedtime stories!"

Annie stared at her new female ally with curiosity, she had heard of ghouls before, but not once did she ever think that they actually existed, "So, you guys eat humans?" she asked

"Yes" Touka responded quickly, "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all, this just means that I know what my allies are like. If it means stopping this, I don't care if you end up eating me" Annie resolved

"Are you sure about that?" Touka asked her, a dark tone to her voice, "Then… I think I'll take you up on that!" Touka leaped at Annie, knocking her and her chair over

Hovering above Annie, Touka showed her the wound on her shoulder, "You see this? I got injured today, so I need some flesh, so that I can heal myself…" Touka leaned down to Annie's ear and whispered, "…and I think you'd do just fine"

Touka licked at Annie's neck, before opening her mouth wide, ready to take a bite of her flesh when she noticed that Annie wasn't putting up any resistance, but her face was sweating profusely and was contorted in fear.

Pushing herself off of Annie and to her feet, Touka spoke "I see, so you are willing to go that far to get our help?"

Annie was still lying on the floor, completely dazed before she shot up, screaming "ARE YOU SERIOUS!? THAT ALL WAS A TEST!?"

"Yup" Touka responded with a smile that was a little too innocent

"You are horrible, you know that?" Annie sighed as she collapsed to the ground again, "Can you not do that again, please?"

"Sorry, but I had to see just how far you'd go to make sure we helped you out, plus it was really quite funny to see" Touka giggled lightly

"Touka, you shouldn't tease people so much" Kaneki spoke, emerging from the kitchen with a tray, carrying three cups which he then laid on the table.

Pushing one to where Annie sat, he spoke "Drink, it'll help calm you down" he then gave Touka another cup before taking his own and sitting at the table to drink

"I thought ghouls could only eat flesh, that's what the stories used to say, at least" Annie spoke as she took her cup

"Yeah, flesh and coffee" Kaneki informed her before taking a sip from his cup

Deciding not to question their diets any further, Annie took a sip from her cup, the smell of fresh coffee filling her nose as she drank. "It's delicious" she complimented the white haired ghoul

"Thank you, but you should try Touka's. She is far better at this than I am" Kaneki complimented her, causing her face to redden at his praise, "Her latte art is amazing, I like her rabbit pictures"

"Oh yeah, speaking of, what's up with those masks of yours?" Annie asked

"It's so we don't get discovered when we use our kagune's, if they see our faces, it's all over for us" Kaneki enlightened her

"I see, so should I get a mask too?" she asked, causing the two ghouls to stop and think for a moment _"Does she need a mask? After all her ability transforms her into a titan, so wouldn't her face already be hidden?"_

"I don't think you'd need one, but we could get one anyway, we'd also need a name to call you" Touka declared

"What's wrong with Annie?" she felt slighted, she rather liked her name

"I mean, so that you don't get discovered, like this," Touka pointed at Kaneki and herself, "he's Eyepatch and I'm Rabbit. Our names come from the masks we wear, in that sense, it might make sense for you to get a mask"

"Oh, so a codename, huh?" Annie paused to come up with her nickname, "What about 'Blondie'?"

"Not very creative but sure, why not?" Touka took another sip of her coffee

"Because 'Rabbit' is so creative" Annie replied sarcastically

"Are you picking a fight?" Touka scowled at Annie

"No, you picked the fight, I'm just accepting the challenge" Annie spat back

"Fine then, come at me, 'Blondie'" Touka motioned for Annie to come, but when Annie took a single step forward, the two girls found themselves keeling over as something had just hit their stomachs. Looking at the only other person nearby, who had not moved from his seat between the two, they saw that Kaneki had activated his kagune and one of the tentacles had been the culprit of the pain they were feeling

"Can you two cut it out? I don't think picking fights is a good idea when we're all so tired, do you?" Kaneki scolded the pair before taking his and the girls' empty coffee cups into the kitchen, where he proceeded to wash them in the sink

"Sorry, Kaneki" "Yeah, sorry" the pair apologised

"By the way Annie, what's in that massive bag?" Touka pointed to the large bag that Annie had brought in when she entered

"Oh, I almost forgot" Annie opened the bag, to reveal two sets of ODM gear and military uniforms, "I figured that you'd be more likely to help me if I gave you a way to get over the wall"

Touka looked over the items with a critical eye, before turning to Annie, "Annie?"

"Yeah?" she responded hesitantly

"Welcome to Anteiku" Touka extended her hand to Annie, who took it graciously, only to be pulled into a hug by Touka, "By the way, touch Kaneki and you're dead!" she whispered into Annie's ear

"Understood" she responded with a smile, "But I didn't know you were the jealous type, Touka", causing Touka's face to turn red brought Annie considerable joy as she

Kaneki looked up from the cup he was cleaning to see the two girls hugging each other near the exit, "Good, they're getting along a bit better now" he spoke to himself

* * *

 **This chapter had a lot going on in it, can Annie be trusted or will she end up betraying the ghouls? Let me know what you think so far and what you think I'll do later  
More importantly, TOUKEN! I couldn't stop myself from putting that confession from Touka in there, sorry :P  
If you can come up with any ideas for Annie's name or mask design, they'd be greatly appreciated, Blondie was the best I could come up with  
**

 **Touka: As I said, not very creative**

 **Me:** **I'm sorry**

 **Annie: I think Blondie's fine**

 ***Touka and Annie glare at each other while I hide in the corner as Kaneki tries to calm everyone down with coffee***


	11. The First Operation

There was still a lot that the ghouls needed to discuss with Annie but they knew that they were still in a dangerous area. So, the members of Anteiku made their way over the walls without any major issues, once they got out, they were informed that they would have to go back in to clean up the bodies. Touka managed to get out of it by showing another soldier her wounded shoulder, causing her to be sent for medical treatment.

"Aren't you worried?" Annie asked Kaneki as they were cleaning up the streets, "About Touka, aren't you worried? If she heals too quickly, the soldiers might get suspicious"

"Not really, Touka's healing isn't as dramatic as mine, she would need normal medical treatment for injuries like anyone else, is that not the case with titan shifters?" he asked in response

"No, watch" she instructed as she brought one of her blades to her wrist, slitting it, blood began to pour before stopping after a couple of seconds. Looking at her wrist, Kaneki noticed steam coming from the afflicted area, but other than that, there was no sign that she had been injured

"Impressive" he observed, their healing was about as fast as his, if not faster

"So if you can heal so quickly, how could any titan shifter be defeated?" Kaneki wanted more information about titan shifters

"We can heal from serious injuries, we can even regrow severed limbs, but it all takes energy, we can't keep healing over and over again" she educated the ghoul

"So I assume that Reiner and the others are no different?"

"Yeah, but Reiner and Bertolt can concentrate their healing, like me, so they could slow it down to fit in with the humans, or speed it up to be able to continue fighting quickly"

"I see" Kaneki said, stuffing another body into a bag, before turning a corner to see a large number of corpses littered in the streets. The scene made him pause for a moment, bringing his hands together, he prayed for them, a habit from when he used to join Yomo for food runs. Annie looked out at the sea of corpses before her, and she froze, her face filled with despair as she spoke "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she felt a pat on her back as Reiner spoke to her "Don't apologise, just do your job, this is a part of war"

 _"_ _War? This isn't a war. In war, both sides come under attack. This is just a one-sided murder!"_ Kaneki felt angry, he clenched his fists hard before continuing his job

"In a couple of days, we're to decide which regiment to join, I assume you'll be going with the Scouts?" Annie spoke, her voice was calm but her face still showed signs of despair

"Yeah, that's right, what about you?"

"I've been ordered to join the Military Police, so that I can gather information from within the interior, Reiner and Bertolt will be joining the Scouts to keep an eye on Eren"

"You still haven't told us what exactly you and the others are looking for in this place"

"I'm aware, I'll tell you and Touka later on, when we're all together"

"As you wish"

With that the two continued to clean up the streets, Kaneki was able to eat a bit from the corpses without anyone noticing, but he couldn't sneak any out with him to give to Touka.

* * *

"How's your shoulder?" Annie asked the girl who was currently sat up in a sick bed, having received treatment

"Fine" Touka responded, winding her arm back to prove her point, causing her to flinch in pain

"Touka, don't push yourself" Kaneki asked of her, stroking her back gently

Touka sighed in response, "Fine, I'm sorry. Anyway, Annie, didn't you say that you had something important to tell us?" she changed the subject

"It's what Reiner, Bertolt and I have been searching for, we call it the coordinate"

"The coordinate?"

"First, a bit of backstory, there are nine titan shifters in total and one of them has the ability to command titans to do their bidding"

"So they would have command of all those titans beyond the walls?" Kaneki remembered the attack on Trost, the sheer number of titans was insane and there were probably far more out there "They'd have an army of giants at their disposal" he feared the idea of someone having that much power

"That titan is what is known as the Progenitor titan, or the coordinate, which we are searching for, on behalf of our military" Annie declared

"What makes you so sure that it's even here?" Kaneki questioned her, "If someone like that lived within the walls, wouldn't they have stopped the titans from attacking humans? After all, what benefit is there to being behind the walls besides defence from titans?"

"I'm not sure myself, but I was sent out here because when Reiner and Bertolt first arrived, five years ago, they had another comrade with them, who ended up getting eaten by a titan. I was sent here as their replacement. You said that you think Ymir is a titan shifter, didn't you? I think that she may have possession of that titan" Annie explained

"Wait, you've lost me, how would Ymir have gotten control of that titan?" Kaneki asked, thoroughly confused

"Oh? You don't know? The titans are humans, they belong to a race called the Eldians, once injected with the spinal fluid of a titan, we turn into one ourselves" Kaneki and Touka froze up, horrified by the idea of becoming one of those things, "Also, if a titan eats a shifter, they gain the ability to turn into that titan"

"So, you think Ymir was the one who ate that soldier?" Touka was still trying to process all the information she had been given

"Yes"

"Then let's ask her" Kaneki suggested, causing Annie and Touka to stare in disbelief at him,

"Are you an idiot?" Annie asked him

"NO YOU'RE BEYOND AN IDIOT, YOU'RE A COMPLETE MORON!" Touka yelled at him

"Why not?" Kaneki asked innocently

"Because there's nothing to stop her from running away! Or she might decide to turn into a titan and try to kill you!" Annie scolded him

"Christa" Kaneki replied calmly, "Ymir doesn't want to abandon Christa, so she won't run away, and it's doubtful that she'd be able to take on all three of us"

"But she might not cooperate with us" Touka informed him

"That's up to her, she would be very useful as an ally if we want to stop Reiner and the others"

"This is a big gamble, we're not sure of what she'll do" Annie doubted their plan

"Well, it's not like we need do it now" Kaneki stretched out his arms in a yawn

"He's right, we can think about this some other time" Touka concurred, "For now, I think we all need some rest"

"Oh, yeah, did you here? They managed to capture two titans alive, they have them ready for experimentation" Annie stood up to leave, "We've been ordered to kill them, to prevent the Survey Corps from learning too much"

"When do you think you'll be doing this?" Touka asked her

"Are you going to interfere?"

"Of course, that is what you had asked us to do"

Annie cracked a small smile before continuing "Tonight. I'm going to kill them, I'll be trying my absolute hardest" Annie challenged her recently created allies

"If you didn't there'd be no point" Touka accepted the challenge

"Well then, see you then, Anteiku" Annie walked off

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Kaneki questioned once he was sure she couldn't hear him

"No, but she was willing to be eaten alive in order to get us to help her, even if that was a lie, I'm not going to ignore it" Touka resolved as she walked in the same direction as Annie went

"You're too kind, Touka" he jogged a bit to catch up to her,

"I don't want to hear that coming from you!" she complained as they walked to where a large bonfire was burning the bodies of their former comrades

* * *

They found themselves at an old castle in the pitch black observing two captured titans, a 4m and a 7m class. They didn't seem too affected by the large metal spikes driven into their bodies, preventing their movement.

"We should have got Annie to tell us when she was going to strike, sitting out here for hours is boring" Rabbit complained, kicking a pebble at her feet

"It can't be helped, plus this is sort of our way of telling whether she can be trusted as an ally" Eyepatch reasoned

"I know that already" she kicked another pebble, "It still sucks"

"Well we won't be waiting much longer, look" Eyepatch pointed towards the three approaching figures using ODM gear

"All three of them, huh?" Eyepatch observed

"Best we get started then" Rabbit launched herself towards the two captured titans where she clashed with one of the attackers, one which she recognised as her ally

"Yo, Annie"

"Rabbit"

Rabbit forced her opponent away as Eyepatch launched himself towards the other two. Able to see their faces, Eyepatch immediately recognised them as Reiner and Bertolt, judging by the shocked looks on their faces, they hadn't expected any interference. Not bothering to use his kagune he kicked the two of them away as Annie continued her vicious assault on Rabbit, only to have each strike of her blades blocked by Rabbit's limbs, it was really frustrating for her. Rabbit's taunting her certainly didn't make it any easier "Is that all? Come on, try harder!" Annie could practically hear the cocky smile beneath Rabbit's mask

Eyepatch was the first to notice, he heard it coming from inside the castle, Reiner and Bertholt heard it shortly afterwards, calling out to their ally to retreat before flying off as fast as they could. She barely heard them, but upon hearing the order to retreat, Annie followed after her two allies, giving the ghouls a friendly wave before she left which Rabbit returned. The two ghouls gathered together, Rabbit began "I guess they were bound to notice the fight taking place outside eventually" she spoke as she saw the inside of the castle light up and figures moving around inside and outside "We should probably get going now, right?" she looked to Eyepatch for conformation

"Agreed, but I would like to try something first" Eyepatch searched the approaching soldiers for one who seemed like they were in charge, his eyes locked on a woman in her late twenties, pushing her way to the front of the soldiers as she screamed "SONNY! BEAN!" she rushed towards the two captured titans

"You're okay, thank god for that!" the woman kneeled in front of the titans as she cried hysterically, causing the ghouls to just stare at her in disbelief _"Maybe she's not the one in charge"_ they reasoned internally

"Section-commander Hange, please get back! You're too close to them!" one soldier called out, _"Wait, so this nutjob is actually a high rank?!"_ the ghouls began to doubt their faith in the Survey Corps

"Oi! Rabbit! Eyepatch!" at their names being called the ghouls looked through the crowds and saw a blonde man walking towards them, "Those are the names you choose to go by, correct? Mine is Commander Erwin, leader of the Survey Corps"

The two ghouls stared at him for a moment, trying to work out why he would admit to such a thing in front of them, "Is it alright for you to admit that to us? What if we were after your head?"

"If you had come here with the intention to kill me, I would already be dead, wouldn't I?" His voice was loud but calm

"I guess so, so would you mind a certain request of mine, Mr Commander?" Eyepatch asked

"If you'll answer my questions"

"That's fair enough, what do you want to know?"

"You interfered with the operation in Trost and helped Eren to wake up, why would you do that? What is your end goal?"

"Our goal…?"

"To live" Rabbit interrupted, "That is all we want, to live our lives with our friends, unfortunately, the titans have already taken some of our friends from us, so we consider them to be our enemies"

"Well put, Rabbit" Eyepatch complimented her, genuinely surprised by her eloquence

"Oh I see…" Erwin seemed deep in thought

"So can we do some experiments with you?!" Hange yelled out to the two of them, "I've read the reports, tentacles and a wing! Oh, and that eye, it's black and red and pretty!"

"That's probably the exact reason they keep their faces hidden, to make sure you don't find out who they are and try to experiment on" a cold, calm voice joined the conversation "I can't say that I blame them, knowing you, four-eyes, you'd kill both of them with your weird experiments"

"Hey, their not weird"

"Ah, Levi, you're here" Erwin welcomed the new addition, _"So this is Captain Levi, humanity's strongest soldier"_ Eyepatch observed the man with a cautious eye, not wanting to be caught off guard by him.

"I believe it's our turn" Rabbit commented, "Hurry up and ask what you want to ask, stupid Eyepatch" she subtly gestured to the soldiers that were starting to cut off any and all possible escape routes

"Yes… may we speak with Eren Yaeger?" his question echoed in the minds of all the soldiers as they tried to work out what Eyepatch was planning

"Is he going to try and kidnap him?"

"Eren's working with him, I knew he couldn't be trusted"

"There's no way the commander will allow that"

Erwin silenced the crowd of soldiers as he responded, "Fine"

"Erwin, are you sure about this?" Hange asked him, suddenly serious

"If we don't fulfil our side of the bargain, how can we expect them to trust us? Levi, go get him"

A familiar scent reaching her nose, Rabbit intervened "No need, he's already here" she picked him out from the swarm of soldiers, he was wearing a Survey Corps cloak with the hood up. Captain Levi let out a tch, _"There goes the plan to bring out a fake Eren. He's not even supposed to be out here, that idiot!"_

"Eren… would you like to join us at Anteiku?" the question caused all of the soldiers to be on their guard, if this were to go unfavourably they'd have to deal with both Anteiku and a fifteen-meter intelligent titan.

"Join… Anteiku? Why would I do that?! I know next to nothing about you people!" Eren complained

"That's fair enough, I guess" Eyepatch's single visible eye was fixed on Eren and it gave him the chills, "But remember this much, Eren… Should the time come when you are to be put to death by this lot, once they give up on you and try to eliminate you… We will welcome you into Anteiku with open arms"

"Time to go, now!" Rabbit warned Eyepatch

"Right-" Eyepatch could barely dodge out of the way of the blade that came straight towards his face, Levi was here.

 _"_ _He's fast!"_ Eyepatch and Levi were caught off guard by their opponents speed, but Levi persisted in targeting his mask, if they knew who he was then it would be of great benefit to them.

Eyepatch could barely keep up with Levi's furious assault, no sooner than once one strike finished another began. Having no time to release his kagune, he focused all his nerves on dodging Levi's slashes, he couldn't find any openings to counterattack.

Rabbit and all of the soldiers were just in awe of the sheer speed of Eyepatch and Levi as they fought, looking away from the fight, she noticed all the soldiers who had been cutting of their escape were frozen, staring intently at the spectacle before them. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she unleashed her kagune, sending shards towards the two. Levi was able to launch himself a safe distance away, Eyepatch wasn't so lucky, he took several shards to his body, ripping through him. Unfazed by his injuries, he activated his kagune, picking up Rabbit bridal style, he held her close to him as he used his kagune to send himself flying through one of the few openings in the Survey Corps' barrier.

"Hey, what are you doing?! I can move fine on my own, thank you very much!" Rabbit struggled in Eyepatch's arms

"Sorry, but endure it for a while, this is quicker than us both running and, like you said, we have to get going now"

"Damnit, if you tell Annie about this, I'll kill you!" she could feel her face warming up beneath her mask

"I'm aware"

* * *

"They chased you for three hours straight?!" Annie was considerably amused by the ghoul's retelling of what happened after she had left

"Yeah, I really should have expected as much from the survey Corps" Kaneki's voice was filled with fatigue and he had considerable bags under his eyes "Thanks to them I didn't get much sleep"

"It's your own fault, I told you to hurry up but you didn't listen" Touka was positively glowing

"How come you're perfectly fine while he looks like he' at death's door?" Annie asked

"Because Touka fell asleep while I was carryin-" Kaneki was interrupted by Touka's elbow slamming into his side

"Touka, you really are unnecessarily violent" Annie observed

"Shut up" she spat back "It's still his own fault"

"True, why would you ask Eren to join us out of the blue like that?!"

"I wanted to know where he stands, I also wanted to see how much they value Eren"

"Considering how they sent Captain Levi to kill you, I'd say that they think he's pretty important" Annie reasoned

"Evidently" Kaneki let out a yawn

"You'd better not do that later" Touka warned

"Why?"

"How sleep-deprived are you? Did you completely ignore the announcement earlier? We have to go get our ODM gear for an inspection, they're looking for the ones who tried to kill the captured titans" Touka scolded him

"What? Annie are you gonna be alright?" Kaneki grew concerned for his comrade

"Yeah, I have a different set of ODM gear that I'll show them"

"Good, we'd better get going then"

* * *

 **This chapter came a bit later than I intended, it's shorter too, sorry :(  
I won't be posting any updates for about a month, I've got exams coming up, sorry :(  
I would like to know what you think of this chapter though, wwhat did you think of Levi and Kaneki's first encounter (I use "first" for a reason)**


	12. Regiment

**I'm back, exams are all over so I can get back into the whole writing thing again**

 **This chapter is really just me getting back into the swing of things so sorry if it's not that good, I promise that the next one will be better, I've got a lot of ideas for it**

* * *

Standing inside a large hall, all of the 104th squad were stood ready for their gear to be inspected. Armin stood between Connie and Annie and Touka stood next to her, the five of them idly chatting as they waited for their gear to be inspected. They had somehow gotten onto the topic of the attempt at killing the captured titans

"The culprit must've really hated titans" Connie began

"But in this case, they would've ended up helping them. Their lust for revenge would've been sated, but mankind would suffer for it, it's a good thing that Anteiku stopped them" Armin responded

"Anteiku, huh? I get the fact that what they did was beneficial to us but I'm an idiot, so I can understand the feelings of the ones who tried to kill the titans much better. Before I actually saw a titan, I really was going to join the Survey Corps. But now, I'm not so sure. Today's the day we have to decide too"

"You shouldn't push yourself to choose, if you don't feel up to joining the Survey Corps, you are able to join the Military Police, aren't you?" Touka chimed in

"Yeah, barely. It must be a lot easier to decide for you, after all, with your skill, it wouldn't be surprising if the Survey Corps proved to be of no challenge for you"

"I wouldn't say so, all it would take is for me to screw up once and then I'd end up in the jaws of a titan. Keep that in mind when you're making your choice" Touka didn't want anyone to make a rash decision and end up getting themselves killed

"I know that, but… even Jean said he's gonna join the Survey Corps"

"Jean said that?" Armin asked, shocked

"Hey… Annie, what do you think?" Connie asked the brutally honest girl, hoping to get her insight

"Nothing really" she kept her usual neutral expression as she spoke

"You're set on the Military Police, aren't you? Maybe I should go there too, after all, if even Touka's at risk of dying there, I wouldn't stand a chance, would I?"

"It's a simple matter, if someone ordered you to die, would you do it?" Annie asked

"What do you mean? Of course not"

"Then you can decide for yourself, can't you? Armin, how about you?" Annie enquired

"I guess… if there was a legitimate reason, there might be no other choice but to die. I can't say that I'd like it, though"

"I see. So you've decided"

"I chose where I'd enlist long ago" Armin's voice was firm

"Are you serious?" Connie asked

"Even though you're so weak, you've got guts" Annie complimented him

"I'm not even sure who we'd end up fighting. Would it just be titans? Or would we need to deal with Anteiku as well?" Connie chimed in

"I doubt that Anteiku is trying to destroy humanity" Armin pointed out "After all, if they were trying to do that, I doubt that they would've interfered with the attack on the captured titans. Nor would they have helped with Eren when he lost control"

"If that's the case, why wouldn't they show their faces?" Connie reasoned

"I doubt it's that simple. Don't forget, the military barely trusts Eren and there is nobody who hates titans more than him" Touka interfered "How do you think they'd react if two strangers with superhuman abilities popped up out of nowhere and tried to join the military?"

"Yeah, I guess that it's no big surprise that they where masks… masks, huh?" Armin gasped and his eyes widened

Connie immediately took notice of this, "What's up, Armin? What did you just figure out?"

Armin took no notice of Connie, seemingly deep in thought as he muttered to himself "Impossible… but they weren't there… the rabbit mask she had… it was hers... then that means she's ra-" Armin stopped suddenly and turned to stare at Touka for a couple of seconds before he let himself relax as he assured his comrades "Sorry, it was nothing"

"Are you serious?! Don't scare me like that!" Connie complained

"Annie, do you think he's figured something out about us?" Touka whispered to her comrade

"No doubt, the only question is what he's figured out" Annnie whispered back

"Could you find out?"

"Of course, but I'd better do it alone, otherwise he'd be unlikely to share his theories"

"I assume I don't need to tell you to ensure he doesn't share his theories with anyone else, least of all Reiner and Bertolt"

"Of course, I'm not an idiot"

* * *

Once their gear had been inspected, the recruits were to head to a large outside area and wait until they were called to decide their regiment. Annie was rushing to catch up with Armin, lest he share his theories with somebody like Eren or Reiner. "Armin, can we talk for a second? This is important"

"Oh? Okay, sure" his response was irrelevant, she was already dragging him off to the side

"Alright, listen to me. I'm not sure what you figured out while we were in there, but I can guess. You have an idea about one of the members of Anteiku, don't you?" she accused

"What? No! It's nothing I can prove or anything like that!" he stuttered out a response

"You know, whether you can prove it or not is irrelevant. If either they or the titan shifters thought that you had information about the members of Anteiku, don't you think they'd target you?" Annie warned him

"Oh yeah, I guess Anteiku would try and protect her identity, while the titans would want to know who the members are"

"Who's 'she'?" Annie asked, causing Armin to take a step back from her, clearly that had been an accident. Annie noticed him closing up and decided that she had done enough to keep him quiet, "Well, it doesn't really matter. In any case, I advise that you keep quiet" she gave her final warning as she went on to join the others

"Annie, you're really nice" Armin complimented her

"Huh?" Annie turned to face him

"It's like… you're telling me this for my own benefit" he reasoned

"You read too much into things"

"TRAINEES, FALL IN! FACE THE STAGE!" their superior officer interrupted, calling all the trainees to choose their regiment. Annie quickly ditched Armin to find the other members of Anteiku so that she could tell them how things went with Armin.

* * *

"So you think Armin's not gonna talk?" Kaneki asked Annie as they waited in front of a large stage for the leader of the Survey Corps to come out and try to recruit them

"Out of curiosity, what do you plan on doing if Armin talks?" Annie asked, somewhat afraid of what his response would be

"I'm not sure, worst case scenario, we have to go into hiding" he revealed, much to Annie's surprise

"That's unexpected. I would've thought that you'd kill him"

"Kaneki's too soft to kill one of his friends. Besides, if Armin talks, it will already bee too late, killing him would serve no purpose" Touka pointed out

"I guess, but if you can't kill any of your friends, how do you expect to beat Reiner and Bertolt?" Annie began to doubt Kaneki's resolve

"I'll kill anyone who tries to take away those precious to me, if Reiner and Bertolt do anything, I'll strike them down with no hesitation" Kaneki's voice was cold, dripping with killing intent

"Kaneki, calm down" Touka took his hand in her own to calm him down

"Thank you, Touka" he smiled gently, all traces of hostility lost from his face

It was at this moment that Erwin Smith, the leader of the Survey Corps, came onto the stage in front of them, the two ghouls instantly recognised him _"So that really was him"_ he was the blonde man who revealed himself to them when they went to protect the captured titans.

"I am the commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith. Today, you choose which division to join. I am here to persuade you to join the Survey Corps. But I must warn you. In the recent titan attack, everyone here experienced what the average excursion outside is like. As a result, you've learned how terrifying the titans can be, as well as the limits of your own strength. However, that battle brought mankind closer to victory than ever before, thanks to the existence of Eren Yaeger. His willingness to risk his life for mankind proves his allegiance to us. Furthermore, not only did he allow us to stop the titans, he also provided us a way to unveil the titans' mystery" his last statement caught the attention of all the trainees, especially the titan shifters and members of Anteiku, "In the basement of his home in Shiganshina district lies the secret of the titans, unknown even to him. If we can just reach that basement, we might find a clue that will help us in overthrowing the titan's century-long rule!"

While this statement filled most of the trainees with hope, all it did for the members of Anteiku was give them a sense of dread. The fact that he had admitted that they were close to discovering the secret of the titans meant that Reiner and Bertolt would be trying considerably harder, making Anteiku's job of stopping them would be that much harder.

"We aim to reach that basement in Shiganshina district. However, to that end, the recapture of wall Maria is crucial. In other words, our goal hasn't changed. Now that the Trost gate is unusable, we'll have to go from Kanarese district in the east. The military route we've spent the past four years trying to prepare has been rendered useless. During those four years, over sixty percent of our soldiers were lost. Sixty percent in four years... It's an absurd figure. Those of you who join us will participate in an excursion one month from now, in which the mortality rate is less than thirty percent. Most of you will likely be dead in four years. However, should you survive, you'll be an elite soldier who can overcome all odds. If you still are willing to risk your lives with us, remain here. Ask yourselves, are you capable of offering your lives for mankind?! That is all. Those of you who wish to enlist elsewhere may leave" With his recruitment speech complete, Erwin watched the trainees leave, only a group of around fifteen remaining. Erwin scanned over the faces of the new recruits before fixating on a white-haired boy. The two maintained eye contact for a few seconds before Erwin dawned a small smile as he broke it. Turning back to face the rest of recruits who had stayed, he asked them "If you were ordered to die, could you do it?"

One of the recruits yelled back "We don't want to die!"

Erwin smiled again "I see. I like the expressions on your faces. Now then, I hereby accept all of you who have remained as new Survey Corps soldiers! This is a real salute! Dedicate your hearts!" he saluted, to which all of the recruits responded with their own salutes. The two ghouls looked over at all those who had remained, Connie, Sasha, Jean, Armin, Mikasa and Christa, but more importantly Ymir, Reiner and Bertolt had remained as well. Kaneki quietly spoke to Touka, "If we're going to be going beyond the walls, do you think that Reiner and the others will make a move?"

"Of course they are, but we'll deal with that as it comes" she responded


	13. Beyond The Walls

Before the gate in Kanarese district was the entirety of the Survey Corps, ready to go beyond the walls. The large gate opened slowly, occasionally catching, it was an old gate that hadn't been used since wall Maria fell five years ago. Once the gate was opened, the commander led the charge straight into titan territory, yelling "ADVANCE!" at the top of his lungs. Passing through the gate, the Survey Corps found themselves in the remnants of a town that had been completely devastated by the titans. It wasn't long before the first titan came for them, a 10m class was approaching them before all of their forces had passed through the gate. Despite the large threat approaching, it was only the new recruits who were particularly concerned with it, the rest had faith in the support team enough to know that one titan wasn't a big problem for them.

Once they were free of the ruins of the town, they deployed the long-distance scouting formation, Kaneki was with Ymir, on the left side of the formation while Touka was with Armin on the right side, all of them were assigned to communications. The basic rundown of their job was, once they saw a flare coming from one of their respective sides, they fire one off too.

After about 20 minutes of non-stop riding, Kaneki turned to his riding partner "Ymir, can we talk for a second?" he asked, careful not to provoke her

"Depends. What about?" her response was short and to the point and she didn't even turn to face him, clearly she had no interest in speaking with him

He took a deep breath before speaking again "How about we talk about the fact that you're a titan shifter?" That caught her attention, she turned her face to him, on which he could see a horrified expression. Ymir quickly realised she was giving herself away and corrected her expression into one of, clearly forced, amusement.

"Pfft, what was that? I'm a titan shifter? Are you serious? Oh wow, I knew you were weird but I didn't think you were completely insane!"

"I am serious, however I do understand why you're trying to play this off. Don't worry, I'm not telling the military or anything. All I want from you is to talk" he admitted

Ymir really wanted to run at this point, she began to look around, trying to work out how she would escape. However Kaneki seemed to have read her intention as a large, blood red tentacle came into her vision from above, its point about three inches from her right eye. "Running is ill-advised" he warned her

Turning back to face Kaneki, Ymir noticed his left eye was black with a red iris and the red tentacle was sprouting from his back. "Well, that's interesting" was the only response Ymir could come up with

"In case you hadn't figured it out by now, I am Eyepatch of Anteiku. Now then, are you a bit more willing to talk now?" he asked her, hoping that he hadn't gone overboard

"Yeah…okay, sure… let's talk"

"I'm curious, what exactly are your intentions?" he asked

"My intentions?"

"Yeah, I know how you obtained that power, however I don't know exactly what you plan to do now. Care to enlighten me?"

"I don't know… I guess, to live my life as I see fit" she admitted

"To live, huh?"

"I guess, in that regard, I'm not too different from you in Anteiku. My goal is to live my life for as long as I can"

"Then what do you think about joining Anteiku? I think that you'd make a good addition" he invited her

"Join Anteiku?" she seemed deep in thought as she considered the offer "Question. What would I have to do if I were to join?"

"Basically, we help humanity advance from the shadows, we interfere when the likes of the colossal or armoured titans show up"

"Is that often?" Ymir asked, not having heard of any attacks other than the colossal titan breaking down the gate in Trost

"More so than you'd think" Kaneki admitted, recalling the many times that he and Touka had stopped Reiner and the others

"Alright, one more question. What do I get if I join you?"

"Protection… our group has some highly skilled members, each of them would prove to be a large asset should you require it…" Kaneki suddenly remembered something important, "For example, should Christa become endangered for any reason, we would prove to be useful allies"

Ymir's interest was peaked, she already knew that Kaneki was incredibly strong, but now that she knew he was Eyepatch, the one who was able to hold his own against Captain Levi. There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to have him and his group as allies "I'm curious to see what kind of things you lot do, so how about this? Next time you're planning something, let me come along and observe, sound good?" she offered

"That seems fine to me, I'll convince the others to allow it. Now then, if you want to come along on our next operation, stay close. After all, our operation has already started"

"What?! What do you mean?" Ymir became concerned

"You'll see, just wait a bit"

* * *

On the other side of the formation, Armin and Touka were riding together, watching out for any flares. "It's surprisingly quiet" Touka observed, and she was right, from what she had heard the outside was swarming with titans. They had only seen one red flare, in the whole of their time outside, only one titan had been seen.

"I know, I would've thought that by now, we'd have seen many more titans than this" Armin agreed with her "But I'm more concerned that when we do finally see titans, it will be too many for us to handle"

"What do you mean, Armin?"

"I mean, this is the perfect chance, isn't it? If the enemy wanted to take Eren away from us, then the best chance for them to do so would be when we're beyond the walls, in titan territory" Armin explained

"I guess so, but then it'll be our job to make sure that doesn't happen, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if we'd be able to stop them. I mean, for all we know, the enemy could be gathering the titans for a large-scale attack on us once we're far enough away from the wall"

"If that's the case, then I'll kill every last one of them" she reassured Armin with a smile

Armin seemed to stop and think for a moment, "Umm… Touka, what about Anteiku?"

"What about them?" Touka turned her face away from him

"I mean, where do you think they stand on the whole thing?" Armin asked hesitantly

"I wouldn't know, what do you think?" Touka tried to avoid speaking about Anteiku herself, lest she give herself away

"I'm not too sure, myself. But can you answer me this, what do you think they'd do if someone found out the identity of one of their members?" Armin asked, surprising Touka

"I guess, they'd make sure that nobody else found out" she replied honestly

"That makes sense. But how far would they go to keep it a secret?" he persisted in asking her these questions, there was no doubt in Touka's mind that Armin knew for certain that she was Rabbit. _"He's trying to get information out of me"_ she realised

"Well, I guess that they'd go to any lengths to make sure that nobody found out. After all, what do you think would happen if the enemy found out the identity of Eyepatch or Rabbit?"

"I guess that they'd target them, since Anteiku doesn't seem to be allied with them" Armin theorised

"Then what would happen?"

"Huh?"

"Since Anteiku seems to be one of the bigger thorns in their side, the enemy would try to take them out of the equation at all costs, what do you think that would mean?"

"There'd be a clash between the titans and Anteiku"

"And what is the most dangerous thing about the titans?"

"Their numbers… Of course! I get it now! If the enemy found out their identity, they'd probably leave nothing to chance and try to make sure there was no possibility of escape, so they'd bring other titans as well. To do that, they'd probably need to break down another wall, that would cause high casualties and humanity would be at an even bigger loss"

"Now you get it, you know, you can be really slow sometimes" Touka scolded him

"So, what you're saying is that Anteiku needs to keep the identities of it's members secret, not only for their own safety, but for everyone else's too?"

"Basically, that must be why they where masks too"

"I see, but that would mean that they have humanity's best interests in mind?"

"Is that bad?"

"You know, you're just like Kaneki. You act all scary but you're really nice in reality" Armin complimented her with a smile

"As much as I have to say about that, we have a more pressing issue" Touka pointed to the black smoke coming from the forest to their right, indicating an abnormal was approaching

"It looks to be about 10m" Armin observed, strangely calmly for him

The pair observed the titan get closer until two other soldiers cut it down, one cutting it's heel out from under it, causing it to fall over, allowing the other to cut out it's nape. Armin was in awe of their ability to deal with the titan so easily but Touka was more focussed on the large figure in the distance. It took the others a few seconds to notice it, quickly dismissing it as another abnormal, they looked away but for a few seconds. In that short space of time, the female titan caught up with them, the soldiers immediately went for its nape, only to be caught, crushed and slammed into the ground. While this sight terrified Armin, Touka was not fazed in the slightest, she had known this was coming. Instead of panicking, she prepared for the fight she knew was coming. Unfortunately once the female titan turned its attention to them, Armin let out a shrill scream before pulling his horse away to run away "Wait! Armin!" Touka called out as she tried to chase after him.

The female titan quickly caught up with them, passing Touka as she ran, she smashed the horse out from beneath Armin. He rolled on the ground for a few seconds before coming to a stop, his cloak covering his entire body. The female titan stopped beside him and, using the tips of her fingers, she gently lifted his hood, taking a look at his face before standing up and running off again. "It checked my face?"

"Armin" Touka rode up to him quickly, "This is important, I want you to observe what's about to happen. Don't just watch the titan, keep your eyes on your comrades as well" she instructed him quickly and quietly

It was at this point that Reiner joined them before Armin could ask Touka what she was talking about "Armin! Touka! Are you alright? Armin, get on a horse or there's no way you'll survive!"

"I saw the flare indicating an abnormal… is that it? The one with the nice ass?" Reiner helped Armin onto his horse

 _"_ _Bullshit! Like you don't already know that's Annie!"_ Touka screamed internally at him

"That's not an abnormal, that's a human inside a titan's body!" Armin warned the two of them, "Wait! We need to fire off a flare quickly!" he struggled to compose himself

"Don't worry about it" Touka informed them, noticing a familiar scent approaching from behind, "Jean's got it covered" said boy fired off a flare as he caught up with them.

"The right flanks been pretty much wiped out! A horde of titans showed up out of nowhere and I don't know why! They're all pretty fast too! If we don't turn back now, we could all be wiped out!" Jean informed them

"But that one came from there too, did she lead them to us?" Armin panicked

"What's that one doing way ahead of us? An abnormal?"

"No, it's a human in a titan's body, like Eren!" Armin declared, surprising them all, _"He's quick"_ Touka observed internally

"The titans only eat people. People die as a result of that, but that's not the titan's aim. But she's different, once the others targeted her nape, she squashed them like bugs. But she didn't kill me, she could've easily, but she didn't. Instead, she checked my face, I think she's looking for someone and the only person she could be after would be Eren"

"Armin, what she's after isn't important!" Touka interrupted him

"What are you on about, Touka?!" Reiner scolded her, "We should figure out where Eren is and go help him, right?"

"Reiner's right" Armin agreed

"Who she's targeting is irrelevant!" she spat back, "Whether she's going for Eren or not doesn't change what we have to do, does it?! She is a titan, and she has breached the formation, so what we have to do is obvious, isn't it?"

She and Jean drew their blades, "She's right, we have to kill it!"

"With just us?" Armin complained

"What's the matter? Don't you have any faith in us?" Jean asked his friend "Besides, we have Touka, one of the three titan-killing machines"

"Are you really Jean?" Reiner chuckled at him "The Jean I knew only cared about his own life"

"It hurts to hear that. I just don't want to have to face those scorched, unidentifiable bones"

"You're right, let's do this" Armin concurred, "Besides, Eren will be safe enough with the Levi squad. They're probably at the centre of the formation, in the safest position"

Reiner's face dawned a small smile, while Touka couldn't stop herself from face-palming, "You have no idea what you've just done, so I'll let this slide. Don't be so careless in the future, Armin"

"What do you mean?" Armin asked, completely oblivious

"No time to explain, come on, we've got a titan to kill" she waved him off as they sped up to catch up with the female titan

"Pull up your hoods, she won't kill you if she doesn't know who you are!" Armin informed them, they quickly complied

The plan was simple, go for the tendons in her ankles, then keep going for her joints. To make sure she couldn't pursue them for a while was their aim, a simple ploy to buy time. But it didn't go as simply as they'd planned, once they'd gotten close to her, the female titan turned around and flung her arm at Armin, yet again taking his horse out from under him. Jean went to cover him, launching his anchors at the titan's back, only for it to turn suddenly, pulling Jean closer as she swung her fist towards him. Touka was quick to intervene, flying towards Jean as quickly as she could, she kicked him out of the way before she took what seemed like a full force hit from the 14m titan. Unbeknownst to anyone else but them, the female titan had held back considerably on the girl, only using a fraction of her full strength to hit her.

Once Touka and Jean were out of the way, Reiner charged the female titan, only to be caught in her hand. She was tempted to actually crush the life out of him, but decided against it, knowing that he would probably transform into the armoured titan and beat her senseless. Annie allowed Reiner to cut his way out of her hand, leaving a sign on her hand as he did so. "Eren's in the centre of the formation, huh?" Annie turned her head towards Touka, who was watching her from behind her shoulder "Do I really have to do this?" Annie wanted out of this ASAP, she recalled the conversation she had with Touka and Kaneki the day before

* * *

The three members of Anteiku were in an alleyway discussing the next operation that would take place in a few days, once they were beyond the wall. Unfortunately there was one detail that was causing the members considerable stress.

"They're getting suspicious?!" Touka all but yelled

"Yeah, they think that somehow you're getting insight into our plans, they don't know it's me yet but they're getting close to the truth" Annie replied

"Then, what should we do? We can't just ignore your next mission, it's probably one of the more dangerous ones yet!" Kaneki complained

"I don't know. If you interfere, then they'll know that there's a traitor, but if you don't, then there'll be a large death toll"

"Then let's try something new, giving the military information" Touka chimed in

"What are you talking about? They wouldn't listen to us!" Annie scolded

"No, but they won't be able to ignore it either. If we just put the idea in their heads, then we could help out without being directly involved" Touka stated

"That could work. I'll do it, I'll go in and out quickly" Kaneki resolved

"Fine, so then we won't interfere directly as Anteiku but since I'm with Armin, I'll try to discourage him from telling Reiner where Eren will be"

"Sounds good" Kaneki agreed before turning to Annie, "Is that alright with you?"

"It's a good plan… but it means that I end up having to kill a lot of people" her voice was quiet but the sadness in it was clear

"I'm sorry, Annie. But this is the best we can do for now" Kaneki apologised earnestly

"I know, it still sucks though" tears began to fall from her eyes like waterfalls. Touka immediately went up to the girl, pulling her into a warm hug as she tried to comfort her.

Annie snapped herself back to reality and began to move towards the centre of the formation. "I can do this, just this one mission" she resolved as she ran

* * *

"Annie…" Touka couldn't help but pity the girl, she was in the worst position out of everybody. Stuck acting as Anteiku's spy, but she was still ending up killing innocent people, even though that was the one thing she wanted to avoid more than anything.

Touka rode towards where the others were gathered, Armin and Jean had lost their horses so Jean was trying to call his back. Once she got to them she noticed Armin was bleeding heavily from his head. She dismounted and pulled out a bandage and went about treating him. "Reiner, make yourself useful and go help Jean recall the horses" Touka instructed him

Once he was sure that neither Jean nor Reiner would be able to hear him, Armin asked Touka a question that shook her to her core "Touka, why did you hold back against that titan?"

"Wha-what do you mean?" she tried to play it off but Armin persisted

"I have been with you and the others for years, I have seen your ability and I know for a fact that avoiding that titan's attack would've been child's play"

"I… I focussed on getting Jean out of trouble so I didn't think about myself avoidi-"

"That's a lie and you know it!" Armin interrupted her, "Why would you hold back… Rabbit?" the mention of her codename filled her with a sense of dread

"If you really are Rabbit, and a member of Anteiku, why would you let the enemy live? Surely it would've been easy enough for you to kill her, even without your ODM gear, so why didn't you?"

Touka had no way of responding, she knew he was sharp but she hadn't expected this. There was no right answer in this scenario, he was confronting a member of Anteiku right now, and he was questioning their intentions.

"Tell me… are you going to kill me now? To keep me quiet?" Armin's voice was quiet but firm

"No" Touka responded immediately, "But I will ask you, as your friend, to not tell anybody"

"Can you trust me to keep this a secret?"

"It seems that I have no choice, I don't want to kill you, so I will trust you"

"Then tell me this much, if you trust me, why didn't you kill her?" Armin instructed her

"I can't do that, whether you expose me or not, I will not tell you this" if she told him why she didn't try to kill Annie, it would mean exposing more about Anteiku than she was willing to share

"Fine, then what can you tell me?"

Touka racked her brain, trying to find something that would satisfy Armin enough to keep her identity a secret. Then she came up with something "I can tell you that you have met all of the members of Anteiku and the titan shifters in person" Touka admitted

"I have?!" Armin looked up at her, his eyes wide with fear, "Even her?"

"Yes, I assume that is enough"

"Yeah, for now"

* * *

 **I'm a bit unsure about how this chapter turned out, maybe too many people know about Anteiku, let me know what you think  
** **This took longer than it should've, considering how short it is, sorry :(  
I know that the next chapter will be better, *hint* it will be titled "Strongest"** **  
**


	14. Strongest

Kaneki stood on the large branch, staring down at the swarm of titans below him, each of different sizes and their own strange, mutated faces. There were approximately 20 titans directly below him, with another group of titans nearby, all of them clawing at the tree trunks, trying to get at the humans who were far out of their reach. Ymir stood next to him, observing the half-ghoul closely, _"He's full of openings. If I wanted to, I could kill him right now. I wouldn't even need to use my titan form. One quick slash and it's done, nobody would be any the wiser"_

"Ymir, I advise against trying anything" a cold voice interrupted her thoughts "I could kill you in less than a second. However, I'd like to avoid that, if possible"

"Did I release my bloodlust?" she asked, genuinely surprised by how easily he picked up on her intentions

"Just a little bit, but it was enough"

"What would stop me from killing you right now?" Ymir gripped her blades tightly, ready to slash him at a moments notice

"Nothing" Kaneki walked up to the girl calmly as he instructed her "If that's what you want to do, go ahead"

Immediately, Ymir's blade found it's way to Kaneki's throat, this was it, now he dies and Ymir's secret was safe. At least, that was what she had planned. Unfortunately, reality was not so convenient, her blades had been stopped. How? He hadn't moved. The blade hit him straight-on but he remained unfazed. "It probably would be useful to know, blades and bullets will have no effect on me" Ymir's face seem to twist up in fear "It's my turn now"

Kaneki approached the terrified girl and raised his hand slowly, bringing it up to her face. Ymir closed her eyes, expecting the worst, only to be lightly flicked in the forehead. She looked over at Kaneki, who had a gentle smile on his face and was slowly backing away from her. "I have no intention of harming you" he assured her

Ymir lowered her blades, knowing there was no way she could kill him and that he wasn't going to be killing her anytime soon. Ymir watched the white-haired ghoul with a cautious eye, "Do you have **any** weaknesses? I feel like your strength is a little unfair"

"How so?" Kaneki asked honestly

"Well… isn't it obvious? You're physical abilities are far beyond everyone else, going so far as to be able to face off against humanity's strongest soldier. Next, as you said, you can't be harmed by blades and bullets. Finally, you have those weird red tentacle thingies. I mean, what are they?"

"Huh, I see. So that's how it is" Kaneki's mind felt weirdly clear, he had always thought of himself as rather weak, that's why bad things kept happening to him. The idea that he was thought of as strong was almost unthinkable for him.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of cannon fire, coming from the forest. He hadn't seen them bring any cannons or such like with the cargo. The fact that they had fired worried him a great deal, it meant that they were firing at something, and that something was probably Annie.

"So damn noisy" Ymir complained, "Where's Christa?"

"I'm not sure, but if I were you, I'd get ready to move out at a moment's notice" Kaneki warned her

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, you wanted to see Anteiku in action, right?"

* * *

Touka was readying herself to move out, those cannons really concerned her. Had they set a trap for Annie? Did those cannons mean that she was captured or dead? Her mind filled with questions such as these, but she had no answer for any of them.

"Touka, get moving already!" Jean instructed her. Looking down, she noticed a titan that had managed to climb pretty high up, the branch she was on was almost within its reach. Not worried about the titan in the slightest, she jumped onto its head, causing her comrades to worry for her.

"TOUKA!" Armin called out to her, however Touka ignored him, instead focusing on the titan she was standing on. Said titan began to shift, moving both its arms to grab at the person on its head, it released its grip on the trees it was holding onto. The titan fell to the ground, Touka jumped off as it began to fall, back onto her branch to continue her train of thought. Jean flew over to her as soon as she climbed back up

"Are you insane?! Even for you, that was way too reckless!" he scolded her

"He's right, why didn't you just go to another tree?" Armin agreed

"It's fine, isn't it? Nobody got hurt or anything like that" she reasoned, to which Jean sighed

"You know, I really envy you. Do you not feel fear or something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does your strength mean that you've got nothing to fear from titans?" he rephrased his question

"Not really, they're not intelligent or anything, nor are they that fast. The titans' strength is in numbers, so one titan with limited manoeuvrability really isn't much of an issue" she replied nonchalantly

"What about that female titan? Even you couldn't beat her, but I think that, based on those cannons, the commander and the others have probably captured it" Jean responded

"Yeah, that sounds right" Armin agreed. No sooner than he did so, an almost deafening scream came from the forest. The screaming lasted for a solid twenty seconds before stopping.

Below them, the titans' attention was drawn by the scream, all of them turning towards the source of the noise and suddenly, they all sprinted towards it.

"What?! Why are they all ignoring us, all of a sudden?!" Jean complained

"Armin, take care of my horse! I'm going to find out what's happening!" Touka jumped onto the head of one of the sprinting titans, stabbing her blades into it's head and using them for grip as she rode the titan towards the cause of the commotion.

 _"_ _If Annie is calling out for help, then something went wrong and we'll have to intervene"_ Touka panicked internally at the thought of harm coming to her friend

"Are you serious?! Talk about reckless!" Jean watched his friend ride off into the forest, "Who does she think she is, Eren or something?"

"Yeah, even with her strength, getting out of that will be almost impossible" Armin agreed "Don't you think so too, Reiner? Huh? Where's Reiner?"

"Damnit, him too?!" Jean complained, noticing Reiner following after Touka with his ODM gear

* * *

Kaneki and Ymir flew after the titans as quickly as they could, Kaneki pulled his mask from his pocket and began to put it on. "You should probably keep your face hidden beneath your hood and keep a bit of distance between us, if you don't want the military to see you" he warned her

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense" Ymir complied and pulled her hood over her head "So, are you going to tell me what's happening?"

"Something went wrong with a plan we made, so now we have to go and deal with it" he admitted

"So, what exactly are we heading towards?" Ymir asked as a lightning bolt hit the ground in the distance.

Kaneki pointed towards where the lightning hit the ground as he spoke "There, that's where we're going" he flew off towards the lightning bolt, followed by Ymir as a second lightning bolt hit the ground in almost the same location. Neither of them noticed the cloaked figure following them both from a distance.

It took the duo a few minutes to reach where the lightning hit, where they found two titans, a 14m and a 15m class, the 15m flailing at the 14m, attempting to kill it. Kaneki instantly recognised them as Eren and Annie, he quickly turned to Ymir "Come on, we are to watch from above for now"

The two stood on a branch and watched the two fighting titans from above, it was a really strange sight to behold. "The bigger one is Eren, right? He seems to be winning against the other one" Ymir observed, seeing that Eren was on the attack, launching a rapid flurry of punches at the female titan.

"Is that what you think?" Kaneki knew very well what was happening, he could see deep wounds on the female titan's shoulders and eye. She was seriously injured and she was still managing to avoid all of Eren's attacks.

The female titan kept backing away from her opponent, eventually slipping up and landing on her back. Eren quickly took advantage of this, mounting the 14m titan and launching a powerful fist towards her face, only for her to dodge it, causing his fist to collide with the ground. His arm was ripped apart by the force of his own attack, but it didn't cause him to hesitate for a second before he launched his other fist at his opponent, only for it to have the same result.

"Hey, you two!" a familiar voice called out to the two observers. A rather short, cloaked figure hopped onto the branch with Ymir and Kaneki, wearing a mask of a white rabbit

"Yo, Rabbit" Eyepatch greeted her with a wave

"Did you really involve Ymir in this?!" Rabbit skipped greetings and went straight to scolding him, "I thought we were going to leave that for a while, at the very least you could've let me know you were gonna do that!"

"Sorry, the opportunity arose and I took it" the two spoke nonchalantly, completely ignoring the two giants fighting on the ground below them.

Rabbit then turned to Ymir, "Anyways, I assume he invited you to join us?"

"Um…yeah, that's right…Touka?" Ymir queried as to the identity of Rabbit

"Yeah, that's me. Didn't he tell you? Well whatever, did you accept his invitation?"

"No, I wanted to see what I'd be doing if I did join, so I tagged along with him"

Rabbit turned to Eyepatch and stared at him for a second before punching him in the stomach, hard. "Why would you take her along for this?! We weren't planning on doing anything this time!" she berated him

"Sorry sorry" he apologised before a loud roar interrupted the conversation. Looking down, they noticed that the female titan was fully recovered, laying close to the ground as Eren roared at her, looking positively feral. He launched another punch at his downed opponent, which she dodged again, entering into a combat stance. Eren launched a series of punches at the female titan, she was able to avoid each of them expertly, waiting for an opening. She soon found what she was looking for, Eren charged at her again launching another punch that was far from hitting her, she took the opportunity, hardening her fist, she slammed it into his jaw, ripping it apart. However, Eren was not giving up that easily, he quickly launched a surprise attack on the titan, punching it in the stomach, sending her flying up in the air towards the trio, who quickly dispersed to avoid the flying titan.

"That was close" Ymir remarked

"Yeah, that's a lot of power he's packing" Touka agreed

"Was that just dumb luck, or did he know we were here?" Kaneki wondered

The trio landed on their own respective branches, Touka and Ymir on one, Kaneki on another nearby.

"Should we interfere?" Touka asked Kaneki, seeing how the fight between Annie and Eren was escalating

"Or we could start placing bets" Ymir joked, "My money's on the female"

"Eren's on the road to losing, sure, but what should we do once she wins? Do we take him off her hands or what?" Touka needed an answer from him now

"If we do interfere and take Eren away, that would put us and especially her in a dangerous position" Kaneki pointed at Annie's titan form, "After all, the other shifters are closing in on her, if we interfere, they may know she betrayed them. Plus, we'd have an even bigger target on our back, from both the shifters and the military"

"So, what do we do?!" Touka persisted, rather panicked, however Kaneki had no answer for her, he closed his eyes and tried to think of a solution. It was at this point that he heard a slight hissing from nearby, looking to the source, he saw a figure behind Ymir and Touka, using ODM gear. "Behind you!" he tried to warn them, but it was too late, the figure kicked Rabbit from the branch she stood on. They then turned their attention to Ymir, slashing at her arms, severing them from her body as Ymir screamed from the pain.

The figure stopped for a moment after severing Ymir's limbs, apparently they hadn't expected to be able to wound their enemy. _"Whatever, I'll use this chance to go and help the-"_ Eyepatch's train of thought was interrupted as a second figure arrived on his branch, moving incredibly fast. This second figure slashed upwards at Eyepatch's chest, however, much to the ghoul's surprise, their blades cut straight through his skin. They carved deep wounds into his chest and cut his ODM gear's straps from him, causing his gear to fall to the ground. Jumping backwards, Eyepatch unleashed his kagune, ready to fight as he got a good look at his enemy. They wore a Survey Corps uniform, they wore normal ODM gear, but their blades were slightly darker. Looking up at their face, Eyepatch recognised them, they were humanity's strongest soldier, Captain Levi.

Levi looked down at his weapons before looking back at Eyepatch with his usual cold expression "I guess that four-eyes' new toys work against you, huh? It also appears that you can heal, like Eren. Then I hope you don't mind if I cut you up a bit" he spoke before rushing at Eyepatch again, in response, Eyepatch swung one of his tentacles towards Levi, who blocked it with his blades

Rabbit was falling towards the ground at a frightening speed. She quickly corrected herself and launched herself back up to Ymir and the attacker. Upon her arrival, she noticed Ymir's arms falling to the ground as their attacker kicked Ymir in the chest. Her body went into autopilot, she charged straight for Ymir, knocking the attacker out of the way as she grabbed Ymir's leg, just in time to stop her from falling. She pulled Ymir back onto the branch before turning back to the attacker, who was hurtling towards her at a frightening speed. Unable to dodge, Rabbit charged forwards towards the assailant. The two clashed, the assailant's blades against Rabbit's forearm. The two pushed against each other for a moment, giving Rabbit a clear look at their face. The assailant was none other than Mikasa, and her eyes were filled with bloodlust.  
 _"Shit! I have to keep Ymir out of the way or they'll see her face"_ Rabbit figured out her first priority was to protect Ymir, so she tried to make sure that Mikasa's attention was focused on her. She pushed Mikasa away before going on the attack, launching a powerful kick to her side, knocking her from the branch. Rabbit looked to Eyepatch for assistance, only to see him completely occupied with another opponent.

"Fine, I'll deal with Mikasa" Rabbit jumped down to Mikasa, where they clashed again

* * *

Ymir could only watch, feeling a bit out of her league. Below her were two titans, each one significantly bigger and more powerful than her own, fighting each other as they smashed everything nearby. Even if she did transform to intervene with their fight, one hit from either of them would spell her end. Next up, in front of her was Mikasa fighting against Rabbit, both of them swinging at each other with inhuman speed and power. Mikasa's blades were not able to break Rabbit's skin, but that didn't stop her from trying. Ymir had taken just one of Mikasa's attacks, and that took of both of her arms in one swing. There was no way she could take on either of them, let alone the fact that Rabbit was not trying her hardest to kill Mikasa. From what Ymir could see, she was just keeping Mikasa's attention on her. "Is she trying to keep me safe or something?"

However, what terrified her, was the fight going on above her, between Eyepatch and Levi. It was truly a once in a lifetime sight to witness, if your eyes could keep track of them. Eyepatch had four of those weird tentacles out and was using them to propel himself through the air, as Levi followed him using his ODM gear. Every couple of seconds, she could see them clashing, it was the only time she was able to see them clearly, if only for a moment before they disappeared again. She couldn't help but compare herself against them, she knew that her titan form was quick, but if she transformed and involved herself, she would be dead before she even realised it. But it wasn't like she was in any state to fight anyway, her arms had only just started to heal, steam was emerging from the wounds as she healed slowly. She could only watch the three battles in front of her, so she resigned to that.

"Yeah, if this is normal, there is no way I'm joining them" she spoke to herself, deciding to watch until she was healed up enough to leave

* * *

Rabbit was persisting in keeping Mikasa occupied while Eyepatch fought Levi. She couldn't see all of it, but once they were in her field of vision, she couldn't help but admire the two fighters, they moved with such speed that she had never seen before. However Mikasa was nothing to scorn at either, aside from Levi, she was probably the strongest humanity had to offer. Her speed and strength were certainly impressive, but she was still not a match for Rabbit yet. Deciding to end the fight quickly, she unleashed her kagune, her single wing stood proud for all to see. She charged towards Mikasa, who could barely bring up her blades in time to block as Rabbit's wing smashed through her blades. Mikasa had no choice but to back away, as she tried to equip new blades, only to find that they were gone. Looking back at Rabbit, she saw her holding the blades in her hands.

"You took them as you attacked me with your wing?" Mikasa requested confirmation

"Yeah, well done" Rabbit applauded her, "You can't fight me now, so can we stop for a while?"

"What were you going to do with Eren?!" Mikasa demanded an answer, her eyes consumed in bloodlust again

"Is that why you attacked us? Because you thought we were going to do something with Eren?" Rabbit asked, shocked that she would attack them for such a trivial reason

"Was I wrong?"

"Not entirely, but I would've thought that you'd attack the titan that was fighting him first, rather than me. Or do you just not like me?"

"I don't like you, you keep appearing with Eren and you're not trustworthy at all!" Mikasa admitted

"Yeah, but did you really need to cut her arms off? She's not even a proper member of Anteiku" Rabbit pointed towards Ymir's tree

"She's not? No matter, she would've interfered too, wouldn't she?" Mikasa didn't bother hiding her distrust of them

"I doubt it, but more importantly, what about Eren? I would've thought you'd be more concerned about him than me" Rabbit reminded Mikasa of what her priority should be. Mikasa instantly turned her attention away from Rabbit, and looked down at Eren, who was still in his titan form, keeping his distance from the female titan as he watched her with a wary eye.

"He's lasted a lot longer than I would've expected" Rabbit drew Mikasa's attention back to her, "She's really good at hand to hand combat, so it's rather impressive that he has held up so well against her"

"How can you be so carefree about this? Eren's in danger!" Mikasa yelled at her

"Because, I don't think he's in any real danger from her"

Mikasa stepped forwards towards Rabbit, clearly aggravated, "And what do you mean by tha-" her question was interrupted as two figures, moving absurdly fast, came between her and Rabbit. The two figures seemed to clash against each other, in front of them, and quickly separated, one heading towards Mikasa and the other towards Rabbit. The one that went for Mikasa jumped towards her and buried it's foot in her abdomen in a powerful kick that instantly knocked her out, the figure then used her as a footing to jump back towards it's opponent. Whereas the other went for Rabbit, she was able to follow them with her eyes, but her body couldn't keep up at all, she recognised the one that went for her as Levi, who brought his darkened blades up to her and gave her four deep cuts, one on each of her shoulders, rendering her unable to move her arms, and one on each of her knees, rendering her legs useless as well. He then turned away from Rabbit and flew back towards the other figure, Eyepatch, all before she could even let out a single sound.

Collapsing to the ground, Rabbit let out a scream from the pain of her injuries, how did he even pierce her skin anyway? Blades shouldn't work on her, right? Her scream instantly caught the attention of Eyepatch who rushed to her side as quickly as he could, completely ignoring Levi. Upon landing next to her, he saw her injuries, they were deep, she would need medical attention, that and flesh to help her to heal quickly. A familiar hissing could be heard from behind him, however he did not turn around to face his enemy. Instead he allowed his kagune to manifest, all four tentacles merging into one that was considerably larger, it flew at Levi who tried to block it with his blades, only for them to be smashed to pieces by the large kagune. Levi spun out of the way of the kagune and put some distance between him and the ghoul, who had finally turned to face him, completely furious. His one visible eye was glaring daggers at him, with a few tears escaping from the edge of it, but Levi remained firm and equipped new blades, ready to continue.

"Bastard! I'll kill you for this! Do you hear me, you son of a bitch?!" Eyepatch screamed at him, using his kagune to propel himself to his opponent

Levi flew toward him and readied himself to fight again. The two clashed and separated again, Levi landing on a tree branch, Eyepatch landing nearby. Eyepatch did not give up in pursuing Levi, landing on Levi's branch within moments. Levi rushed towards Eyepatch again, slashing at his chest again, creating deep gashes that started to heal instantly. Eyepatch launched two of his tentacles at Levi from above, which he dodged by charging forward as he tried to slash at Eyepatch again, only for Eyepatch to use those two tentacles as a pivot point to haul himself out of the way as his other two tentacles tried to strike at Levi again, to no avail as his blades blocked the attack, yet again. Eyepatch then tried to use all of his tentacles to take him down from above, but Levi just dodged between them all and used his ODM gear to fly up to Eyepatch and slash at his face, which Eyepatch was barely able to block with his arms, once again causing deep wounds that began to heal instantly. Levi then let himself fall downwards, and Eyepatch followed after him. The two of them found themselves right in between the two fighting titans, Eren and Annie, each one going for punch on the other. Levi landed on Annie's arm as Eyepatch landed on Eren's. Instantly, Levi began to move up Annie's arm, cutting it up as he did so, until he reached her face, where he slashed up her eyes before moving down her body, slashing up every inch of her body, rendering her immobile and unable to see. While Levi attacked Annie, Eyepatch ran along Eren's arm and jumped to his face, using his kagune to sever Eren's arms at the shoulder as he pierced Eren's eyes with his arms, Eyepatch deemed that sufficient to keep Eren out of the way as he jumped back to Levi, who had finished his attack on Annie and was flying towards him as well.

"It's time to end this!" the two of them declared

Levi released his two blades and threw them at Eyepatch, who barely blocked them with two of his kagune, causing them to go limp in the process. _"He's down to his last blades now"_

 _"_ _That deals with two of his tentacles"_

Levi equipped his last blades and flew at Eyepatch as fast as he could, Eyepatch launched his last two tentacles at Levi, and for once, he managed to hit him, each one managed to land a heavy hit on Levi's knees, breaking them. However, Levi's momentum kept him moving forward and he ducked under Eyepatch's arm and embedded his blades in his back, where his kagune were emerging from, causing his kagune to dissipate. The two of them landed on the ground, not too far away from each other, both exhausted and heavily injured.

The two fighters were left kneeling on the ground beside the remnants of two large titans. Eyepatch was barely retaining his consciousness, while Levi was gasping for breath as he clutched at his knees.  
"You really are humanity's strongest, well done" Eyepatch complimented his opponent

"Yeah, and I'm really hoping that you are the strongest member of Anteiku. I don't think I'd be able to deal with anyone much stronger than you" Levi admitted

"Yeah, no need to worry on that front" Eyepatch chuckled as he fell to the ground, out cold. He had taken some serious damage that would take ages to heal.

"Thank fuck for that" Levi spoke as he himself collapsed

Rabbit was watching in stunned silence, the two of them were beyond inhuman. Their abilities were incredible. Rabbit tried crawling towards the edge of her branch, looking for a way down. Unfortunately there was none, and she was too heavily injured to use her ODM gear. Then she noticed one of the titan shifters below them began to twitch, Annie was healing. Once Annie was healed up, she stood up and looked around her, and she was certainly surprised by what she saw.

"BLONDIE!"

At the mention of her "codename", Annie looked up, where she saw Touka, lying on a branch, very high up. "CAN YOU PICK THOSE TWO UP AND PUT THEM UP HERE?!" Touka requested and Annie looked down at the two wounded fighters on the ground. Scooping them up in one hand, Annie tried to climb one of the trees, barely reaching high enough to place Levi and Kaneki on the branch with Touka. Once she had them up there safely, Annie's nape began to release steam as Annie climbed out, fully equipped in ODM gear. She jumped from her titan form onto the branch with Touka and the three unconscious soldiers. "Care to enlighten me as to what happened here?" Annie prodded Touka for information

Touka recounted all of the events of the past ten-fifteen minutes, and Annie was definitely surprised. "So, basically you, me, Mikasa and Eren all got caught in the crossfire of the fight between those two" she pointed to the unconscious Levi and Kaneki

"Yeah, in a nutshell"

"So, what do we do? We can't just leave them here, but we can't just go up the military and say 'here are your friends that we beat up', can we?"

"No, besides, we need to recover for now. Could you cut Eren out of his titan for me?" Touka reluctantly requested, she didn't like being overly-dependent on others

"Sure" Annie jumped down to Eren, who still wasn't healed yet, and cut him out of his titan body

"Come to think of it, where's Ymir?" Touka wondered, looking around

"Up here" Ymir replied from a higher branch, waving with half of an arm

Annie re-joined the others, with Eren in tow, and lay him down with Mikasa, who, almost instantly, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her, like he was her favourite teddy bear or something. "Aww, isn't that cute?" remarked Ymir from above

"So, what do we do?" Annie reiterated

"What else can we do right now? We can only wait until our injuries heal up, once we're healed up, then we make a plan"

"Hate to interrupt, but we've got company!" Ymir called out to them

"Is it the Survey Corps?" Annie asked, and soon found her answer, as approximately twenty soldiers were flying towards them.

"Annie, grab me and Kaneki and take us up to Ymir" Touka instructed and Anne complied, with some difficulty

"This is not the job of a weak and fragile girl such as me" Annie complained once she took the ghouls up to Ymir

"Quit complaining, and hide!" Touka ordered her

"Over there, look!" they could hear some of the Survey Corps' soldiers voices from afar

"No way! Even Captain Levi and Eren?!" another soldier yelled in disbelief

"No, they're all still alive. Oh, but Levi broke the weapons that I spent so long making!" another voice moaned

"Section Commander Hange, we need to go now, the titans could be upon us at any moment" another soldier complained

"Fine, grab them and let's get out of here. Damn, I spent ages on those weapons" Hange complained before they all flew off, allowing Touka and the others to relax

* * *

"Ymir, how long do you need before you're fully healed?" Annie asked Ymir once they were sure the soldiers were out of earshot

"I don't know. I guess, ten minutes should be enough" Ymir made a guess

"Okay, how about this? I'll take Ymir back with me to where she should be, then I'll come back for you guys and we'll find a way to get back on our own, sound good?"

"Fine by me" Touka agreed

"No complaints from me, let's go" Ymir jumped onto Annie's back and they flew off, leaving the two ghouls on their own

Touka shifted and looked over at Kaneki, he looked so peaceful. It was hard to believe that a few minutes ago, he was fighting so viscously. He shifted a bit before reaching out his arm to Touka and pulling her closer to him. She could hear him whisper a little bit in his sleep, just two words, but they caused Touka's face to turn bright red, "My Touka"

Kaneki held her closely but gently, as though she would break if he held her too tightly, and given her injuries, that wasn't too far from the truth. Allowing herself to relax a little, she snuggled closer into him and within minutes, she found herself in a blissful sleep.

* * *

 **This took a while to write, I had some other business to attend to, sorry :(  
Let me know what you think of this chapter, I'm not completely sure how this turned out, especially the fighting parts  
**


	15. Plans For The Future

Annie had managed to drop Ymir off where she was meant to be without much difficulty, apart from Ymir being heavy, something that Annie reminded her every few seconds until Ymir was healed enough to use her ODM gear.

Fortunately, none of the soldiers had left yet, so Ymir was able to return without anyone even noticing that she was gone. Her job done, Annie went back into the forest to her comrades.

As she approached the tree where the she had left the ghouls, she noticed a group of titans had begun to form at the base of the tree. Around ten titans were below them, clawing at the tree trunk, attempting to get at the two people who were far out of their reach. Landing on the branch, she walked up to the two, only to find them fast asleep, and very close together. They looked rather cute. Touka's face was buried in Kaneki's chest, her arms loosely wrapped around him, while Kaneki's arms were wrapped around Touka's waist, keeping the two close together. The two had already started healing but they were still heavily injured, they would need rest, so Annie decided to let them sleep.

Until she got bored, that is.

After what felt like hours, Annie grabbed a stick and began to poke at Kaneki's face. He evidently was a rather light sleeper, he woke up almost instantly. Quickly, the ghoul surveyed his surroundings, taking a quick glance in every direction until his eyes found Annie.

"What, it's just you, Annie?" Kaneki let himself relax at the confirmation that they were not under attack, unconsciously pulling Touka closer into him "Did I fall asleep?"

"Evidently, you weren't the only one" Annie pointed at Touka, very much amused by how close the two ghouls were and how Kaneki had yet to realise it

Following Annie's finger, he looked down and noticed the position he was in with Touka, his face flushed, at which Annie struggled to contain her laughter.

"Well, I'm glad you're finding this so entertaining!" Kaneki spoke quietly, careful not to wake Touka, sarcasm dripping from every word

"I can't help it, I mean just look at her!" Annie pointed at Touka again, as Touka had began to snuggle in closer to Kaneki, a contented smile on her face "Right there is perhaps one of the most terrifying and powerful people I've ever met and look at how cute she's being"

Kaneki was about to respond, but decided against it, instead attempting to get Touka off of him. "No… don't leave me alone… Kaneki" Touka pulled herself closer to Kaneki, her hold on him tightened to the point where escape would be impossible without waking her up.

"I don't get how you can still act dense after seeing her like this" Annie questioned the white-haired ghoul, "Have you never had a girlfriend or something?"

"What? I'm not sure how that's relevant, but no, I don't exactly have the best experience when it comes to dating" he spoke with an awkward smile as he remembered the one date he had with a girl ended with him being horribly mutilated by her, her being crushed by steel beams and him becoming a ghoul

"Even so, this is just ridiculous. Can't you tell?"

"Tell what?" Kaneki asked her, genuinely curious

"Unbelievable" Annie sighed, giving up

"In any case, do you wanna fill me in on the current situation?" Kaneki requested, eager to change the subject

"Well, you and Levi got everyone caught up in your fight so me, Touka, Eren and Mikasa all got badly injured…" the thought of him being the cause of his friends being hurt because of him made Kaneki's skin crawl, "then you and Levi passed out, I put you all on a tree, the Survey Corps came and took the others away, then I took Ymir back to where she's supposed to be. By the way, she said that she probably won't be joining us, what we do is a bit too dangerous for her, apparently"

"I see, that's a shame" Kaneki was rather disappointed, Ymir would've been a valuable ally

"Agreed, but it can't be helped" Annie hadn't really expected Ymir to join them anyway so she wasn't too disappointed

"We should probably find a way out of here" Kaneki decided

"Yeah, but look down, those titans won't make it easy for us, also you two look pretty injur-, Touka looks pretty injured" Annie corrected herself, seeing that Kaneki was almost completely recovered

"Yeah, but I can fix that" Kaneki declared as he began to shake Touka gently, trying to wake her up

"You're not doing that right, watch. TOUKA, WAKE UP!" Annie yelled at the sleeping girl, causing her to panic and roll around a bit, inadvertently taking Kaneki with her

"What?! What's happening?" Touka called out, completely disoriented as she and Kaneki rolled to a stop, Touka on top of Kaneki. It took Touka a few moments to realise the situation she was in, she found herself reddening in the face, partly due to her position with Kaneki, and partly due to her anger at being awoken in such a rude way. She wanted to jump up and hit Annie, right then and there, but she was struggling to even push herself off of Kaneki.

"Touka, don't strain yourself" Kaneki instructed her as he shifted into an upright position

"Yeah, you shouldn't move so violently as soon as you wake up" Annie teased the girl, "Anyway, Kaneki, didn't you say that you have a way to help her recover?"

"Yeah, just look away for a couple of seconds"

"What?"

"It would probably be better if you didn't see it" Kaneki advised her, knowing that what he was planning would not be something Annie would like to see, nor was it likely that Touka would want her to see it

"Fine" Annie resigned, turning away to look at the titans below them

Kaneki pulled the collar of his shirt towards the side so that his shoulder was exposed and turned to Touka, "Go ahead"

"Kaneki, you really don't need to do this" Touka protested, "My injuries aren't that bad"

"It'll be fine, I don't mind, and I can't bear to see you in this condition and be unable to do anything about it"

Touka sighed as she moved closer to him and prepared to bite him, _"He doesn't know what it means, he's not asking 'that'"_ Touka reminded herself, to ensure she wouldn't accidentally misunderstand

She sunk her teeth deep into him and ripped a mouthful of his flesh from his shoulder, embracing the familiar taste, she couldn't help but recall the last time she took from him. Long ago, back when they fought against Tsukiyama, the little idiot had proposed the idea without knowing what it meant. At the time, she had no choice but to comply, the only alternative being to be killed and eaten by that weirdo gourmet.

"Feeling any better?" a concerned Kaneki's voice snapped Touka out of her reminiscence

"Yeah, give me a moment and I'll be fully healed" she assured him

"Can I look now?" Annie asked, "We might need to move soon, some of the titans have started climbing the tree"

"Yeah, we should be okay now" Touka assured her, allowing Annie to turn around and be rather surprised by what she saw. Kaneki's shoulder was badly injured, although it was already healing, and Touka, fully recovered, with bloodied lips and a few drops of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. It didn't take her long to put together what they were doing, and she was grateful that they told her not to look.

"So, what's the plan? Reiner and Bertolt probably have figured out that I have a connection with Anteiku, also, we're probably being targeted by the military as enemies"

"It seems that way, though I'm not sure why they attacked us. We hadn't made any move to attack Eren or anything like that, then why?" Kaneki wondered, the battle today might've made any future alliances impossible, a rather concerning thought.

"Who knows why they attacked us? For all we know, that whole thing could've just been to test out those new weapons of theirs" Touka reasoned

"Oh yeah, those weapons, they're dangerous" Kaneki warned "They were able to pierce our skin without much difficulty, how did they make such things?"

"I don't know, but we may have underestimated them too much. We have only come face to face with them a couple of times, yet they've already managed to create weapons that can harm us. That's terrifying" Touka shuddered at the thought of being slashed up again

"Relax, since only Levi had them, I doubt they can produce them in mass yet" Annie chimed in, trying to be supportive

"Yeah, you're right" Touka agreed

"We'll discuss any issues later, right now, we should be focussing on getting back behind the walls without anyone noticing us" Kaneki said as he pointed down at the titans who were slowly but surely climbing up the tree

"You can leave that to me, we just have to get to the edge of the forest, then I'll use my titan form to get us to the wall. From there, it would be easier to use ODM gear, if we want to fit in with the other soldiers"

"Unfortunately, mine and Kaneki's were slashed up by Levi, we can't use them" Touka reminded the blonde girl

"I can use my kagune to get us all over the wall, no worries" Kaneki intervened

"From there, there's a place we should head to"

"Where would that be?" Kaneki asked Annie

"There's a house rather close to the wall, I've got some supplies there" Annie recommended

"Right, we'll head there then go to Karanes district and see if we can regroup with the others" Kaneki instructed them

"Right" the two other members of Anteiku responded together

* * *

"Just how exactly did you get this much stuff?" Kaneki asked Annie, looking out at the armoury before him "There's enough here for 20 people, at the very least! You've even managed to get a full gas refilling station here!"

"Not that it's needed with all of these little gas tanks that are already full!" Touka added on

The building they were in wasn't exactly a house, more like a bar, however it would more than be good enough as a house. There was an upstairs area with four bedrooms, two rooms behind the bar, one looked like a storeroom and the other looked sort of like a break room with a large circular table, surrounded by small wooden chairs. Finally, the bar area itself, it was certainly a large space, around twice the size of the café area of Anteiku. Around the perimeter of the room were tables and chairs, all stacked up on each other, and covered with a layer of dust. But in the centre of the room were about thirty complete sets of ODM gear, twenty sets of military uniform, all with the military police insignia of a green unicorn with a white mane. Not to mention the large gas refilling station, capable of holding enough gas to fill two hundred tanks, and finally, piled up in one corner of the room were at least a hundred full gas canisters.

"Do you think I should've gotten more?" Annie asked, honestly

"Annie… I'm going to make this simple since you don't understand…" Touka spoke calmly before taking a deep breath "… THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!"

Annie was almost knocked off her feet by Touka's yelling at her, but swiftly recomposed herself and countered, "But I thought that it would be better to have some extra"

"That doesn't mean to take a whole military base's worth of equipment! How did you even get this stuff?" Touka asked, still shocked by the sheer volume of equipment that Annie had collected

"Being in the military police has its perks, you know?" Annie stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world

"So you're telling me that every member of the Military Police is entitled to this much equipment?!"

"No, of course not, I tricked my superiors into sending it here. I got a form to have all this equipment moved to a base somewhere in the east, then got my superiors to sign the form. Unsurprisingly, they didn't even read it, they just told me to leave them to their drinking once they signed it. I then got the other new recruits to help me haul it onto some carts by telling them that it was our boss' orders. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was journeying out here with those idiots"

"And nobody questioned these weird orders to have a massive amount of military equipment sent out into the middle of nowhere?" Kaneki asked, struggling to believe Annie's story

"It's the Military Police, they don't ask questions" Annie revealed

"Wow, I don't know what to say" Kaneki admitted

"How about 'thanks, Annie'?" Annie suggested

"Thanks, Annie" Kaneki repeated after her

"Oi, you too" Annie scolded Touka, who was wandering around the room, still amazed by how much stuff Annie had acquired

"Tch, fine… Thanks, Annie" Touka thanked her, albeit reluctantly

"Actually, I do have a question, Annie" Kaneki began

"Shoot"

"How do you know of this place?"

"It's where me, Reiner and Bertolt stayed before we were old enough to enter the military" Annie revealed

"Really?" Touka asked in disbelief

"Yeah, in one of the rooms upstairs, you'll find a set of handguns that Bertolt took with us, he had no choice but to leave them here once we entered the military, they searched through our stuff regularly and we didn't want to risk the military getting better technology than they currently have" Kaneki went to confirm her story and, true to her word, there was a large bag filled with small handguns and revolvers and a significant amount of ammunition

"Now that we've got some gear, we should probably try to head over to Karanes district. Annie, you should head back too, before anyone notices what you were gone" Touka advised

"Not yet, there are a couple of things we should discuss first" Annie objected

"That's right" Kaneki concurred

"First, how many people know who we are? I know that Ymir knows and Armin has his suspicions but is that it?" Annie asked the ghouls

"Actually…" Touka spoke up "Armin confirmed his suspicions, with regards to me, at least"

"You mean?"

"Yeah, he knows about me being Rabbit. He confronted me about it after Annie clashed with me, Reiner, Jean and Armin" Touka confessed

"So, how much does he know?" Kaneki asked, perfectly calm, trying to keep things as low-pressure as he could

"That I'm Rabbit, that's it. That's all he confronted me about, at least" Touka defended

"That's fine, Touka" Kaneki gently rubbed Touka's back

"That's not fine! If Armin knows, he'll probably end up telling the military and if that happens, we may have to deal with Levi again, only this time he'd have the whole Survey Corps as backup!" Annie began to panic

"Levi won't be attacking us or anyone else for a while" Kaneki assured them "Those injuries will take at least a month or two before they're fully healed"

"Okay, fine. Next issue, Reiner and Bertolt"

"Yeah, they've probably figured out you're connected to us by now" Touka was rather concerned for her comrade

"If they know, then, should we start to take aggressive action against them?" Kaneki asked

"No, a head-on clash should be avoided as much as possible. Reiner can be dealt with easily enough on his own, if we all attack him, but Bertolt's titan is ridiculously powerful" Annie warned them "If he unleashes the power of the colossal titan, then we wouldn't be able to handle it on our own"

"Is he really that strong? He just looked big and slow to me" Touka doubted Annie's claim

"You haven't seen him fighting. You know that his titan disappears in a cloud of steam, right? Well, he can use that as a weapon, he can release high pressure, superheated steam over a large area from his entire body. If we tried to attack him head-on, we'd lose, even if we had Eren and the Survey Corps on our side"

"That complicates things" Kaneki ruffled his hair, trying to rack his brain for a solution

"Wait, if he uses that huge steam blast to attack, wouldn't that damage Reiner too?" Touka reasoned

"No, Reiner's armour's too thick. Besides, Reiner's titan is so fast it could escape the area before Bertolt attacks"

"But back when we fought him, he didn't seem all that quick, he was about as fast as any other titan"

"Reiner hadn't expected you to be there, he was just going to take back Eren. We didn't even know about you at all, we only thought that we'd be dealing with Eren, a complete novice at using his titan form, who would have limited abilities as he tried to carry a giant boulder to the gate"

"What's your point?" Touka was getting sick of these long explanations

"Reiner underestimated you, he hadn't thought you would be a threat. If he had realised how dangerous you were, he would've smashed you to pieces" Annie concluded, "If the two of them were serious about it, they could wipe out everyone behind the walls in two or three days"

"So why haven't they?" Kaneki interjected "Their target is Eren, right? They've found him, so why don't they take him and leave? It wouldn't be too difficult, if they're as strong as you say"

"They are that strong, do not doubt that, the only reason they haven't done that is their own personal issues" Annie explained

"I can understand Bertolt being indecisive, but Reiner doesn't seem like that at all" Touka pointed out as she adjusted a set of ODM gear to suit her size

"You'd be right about that, when Reiner is a warrior, he's strong, but his mind is really fragile" Annie hinted

"How so?" Kaneki asked as he followed Touka's example and began to adjust some ODM gear for himself

"Since Marco was eaten by a titan, Reiner has been different, he believes that the person he is here, the soldier of the Survey Corps is the real him" Annie explained

"I see, it's definitely possible" Kaneki remembered some of the torture Yamori put him through, watching people you cared about dying. Kaneki himself nearly fell into insanity when that happened, so it must have been just as bad, if not worse for Reiner, who had a more direct involvement in his friend's death, "So, while Reiner is like that, they won't make any moves, huh? Interesting"

"We'll have to keep an eye on him, right?" Touka inquired

"Of course, we'll do that. Annie, can you see if there are any other locations like this one, should we need them" Kaneki confirmed

"Leave it to me" Annie saluted

* * *

"Kaneki! Touka! You're okay!" Jean called out, as soon as he had laid eyes on her

"We were so worried about you" Connie added on

"Once I heard that you went off into the forest, I was so worried" Sasha chimed in

"Relax, relax. As you can see, we're fine. We just had an earful from the higher ups for disobeying orders" Touka lied

"Thankfully, they let us off with a warning, they just said that there would be consequences if we go against orders like that again" Kaneki lifted his hand to his chin as he spoke "Anyways, I'm glad to see you're all okay"

"Yeah, where are Armin and Mikasa?" Touka asked, noting her friends' absence

"They've gone with Eren, apparently, but I don't know" Connie responded

"Either way, did you receive the same weird orders we did?" Sasha asked

"Weird orders?"

"Didn't you hear? All of the 104th cadets are being sent somewhere to the south of wall Rose. They haven't told us why" Jean informed them

"Just us? That is weird" Kaneki agreed

"We'll find out once we get there, right?" Touka chimed in

"If you say so-" "KIRSTEIN! GET OVER HERE! YOU'VE GOT A NEW SET OF ORDERS!" a very loud superior officer interrupted them before dragging Jean away

"What do you make of these new orders?" Touka whispered to Kaneki as the others spoke among themselves

"I think that they're probably closing in on their targets, whether it's us or Reiner and Bertolt that they're closing in on is yet to be seen" Kaneki shared his suspicions

"Wait, if they know that someone is in the 104th, wouldn't that put Annie at risk too?" Touka worried, Annie would have a harder time escaping from the Survey Corps than either of them would have

"If they do suspect the 104th, it doesn't matter who they're seeking, Annie would be at risk, being a part of both groups"

"Then we need to go and warn her!" Touka resolved, walking over to where the horses were, only for Kaneki to grab her arm and stop her

"That's it, that's what they're planning" he spoke, mostly to himself, before turning to Touka "If Annie is their target, and they're suspicious of the 104th cadets, then what would be the best plan?"

"To separate us" Touka picked up what he meant fairly easily

"So, if we go and warn her…"

"… they'll know we were involved with her. Damn it!" Touka finished his sentence for him "So, what do we do?"

"I'm not sure, there's not much we can do in this situation. That commander Erwin is certainly crafty" Kaneki struggled to think of a solution

"How about we split up?" Touka interrupted his thoughts

"What?"

"I mean, you go warn Annie that they may be targeting her, maybe stick around for a while and watch the Commander or Eren. While you do that, I'll go with the others and keep an eye on Reiner and Bertolt. We can reconvene at the same place as before when we can, sound good?" Touka sounded confident in her plan, but Kaneki had his doubts

"If they do make a move, you'll be all on your own…" Kaneki's face made his discomfort clear, "If you end up having to fight them-"

Touka placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled Kaneki into a kiss, it filled Kaneki's face with warmth. As she separated from him, Touka locked eyes with Kaneki, "Relax, I'll be fine. I won't do anything reckless"

No sooner than she'd finished speaking, her lips were occupied as Kaneki pushed forward into another kiss. He let his hands roam to Touka's waist, pulling her into the kiss, they would've continued for longer, but needed to separate for breath. In that moment, Kaneki spoke to her, quietly but his voice was filled with emotion "Please come back to me. If you can promise me that, then I'll go along with this plan of yours"

Touka cracked a small smile as she pulled Kaneki close again, this time she just rested their foreheads against each other "I promise that I'll come back to you. Now it's your turn"

"I promise that I'll come back to you, Touka"

"Good" Touka swiftly gave him a peck on the cheek before separating and turning her back to him "If you break that promise, I'll kill you" she warned him

"I won't" Kaneki assured her, a gentle smile on his face

"Good, now get going" she instructed him

"Of course" Kaneki turned away from her and walked over to where the horses were, leaving Touka on her own. At least, she thought she was on her own, in reality, a number of her friends from the 104th cadets corps were watching here from a distance, not close enough to hear them, but they didn't need to hear the two. Almost as soon as Kaneki had gone out of sight, they swarmed Touka; Connie, Sasha, Christa and Ymir all swarmed her, asking questions, while Reiner and Bertolt watched from a distance.

Not having expected anyone to be watching them, the embarrassment set in for Touka, her face flushed as she tried to hide herself from her friends.

"Great job, Touka" Connie complimented her

"Touka, that looked so romantic" Sasha observed, her own face rather flushed at having watched them

"It's about time, it was getting annoying to watch you two" Ymir scolded the red-faced girl

"How long were you watching?" Touka asked them, struggling to keep her embarrassment in check

"Long enough" Ymir informed her, trying to embarrass her even further

"Yeah, I can't wait to see Eren and the other's reactions when they hear about this" Connie mused

"Is it possible that this stays as low profile as possible?" Touka asked

"Nope" all her friends replied simultaneously with a smile

"Great" Touka complained as she covered her face with her hands in attempt to hide her embarrassment

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter took so long, I got a bit lost as to what I wanted to do :(  
Special thanks to amerdism, who helped me get out of the slump I was in  
** **This chapter is just me setting up for the next few chapters, sorry if it's not that great  
** **I made this very Touken-oriented, hope that's alright, it might seem a bit rushed. Since chapter 131 wasn't out when I posted Kaneki biting Touka, I didn't know what it meant, so I thought that I should use it's real meaning in this chapter. Poor Kaneki, didn't realise what he was doing :)  
** **I will explain the weapons that cut the ghouls' flesh later on, since so many people wanted to know about it  
And, that's the end of my rambling, thanks for reading, any feedback would be greatly appreciated**


	16. Exposed

Annie awakened from her slumber with a groan, she hadn't been able to get much sleep, the whole ordeal from the day before had caused her to get back much later than she would've liked. Upon awakening, Annie noticed two things that annoyed her a great deal, the first was the insistent tapping noise coming from her window, but it was the second which bothered her more. It was the absence of her roommate, Hitch Dreyse, who either woke Annie up with a lot of noise then enjoyed seeing Annie squirm as she struggled to get up or would just leave her to sleep, causing Annie to be late for her work.

"Guess I'm going to be late today, huh?" she spoke to herself before heading to the window, where that annoying tapping was still going on

Annie stared in disbelief at the view before her, she had expected it to be a bird or something, that would go away if she opened the window. The last thing she would've expected to see was Kaneki, upside-down, waving at her with a goofy smile on his face.

Opening her window, Annie snapped at him "What are you doing here, idiot?!" apparently her state of fatigue did not have an effect on her ability to yell

"I'm here to inform you that the Survey Corps is closing in" he warned her, still holding that grin on his face

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she asked "Closing in? On who?" Annie felt way too tired for this

"I dunno" Kaneki informed her, quickly backing away as Annie tried to punch him "That was unnecessary, wasn't it?"

"Shut up, you idiot. What do you mean you don't know?" she asked him, rather annoyed

"It's unclear who they're targeting, but they've separated the 104th from the rest of the Survey Corps. Whether they're targeting us or not, they're definitely suspicious of the 104th, that put's you most at risk"

"Because I'm from the 104th, a member of Anteiku and a titan shifter? No matter which they target, I'm at risk the most, right? I get it" Annie understood, starting to wake up properly

"Yeah, it was the best course of action to warn you. Plus, we need to know what the commander's planning, so I'll be sticking around for a while to see what he's up to" Kaneki informed her

"Nice plan, aren't you such a good leader?" Annie teased

"Actually, it was Touka who came up with it" he confessed, his grin growing even further as his cheeks were dusted pink

"You're looking happier than usual, it's weird. Did something good happen that I'm not aware of?"

"Well… let's just say I understand what you were talking about when you called me 'dense'" he hinted, which Annie picked up on immediately

"Wait, you mean that you…? Kaneki, that's fantastic!" Annie smiled brightly at the ghoul as she congratulated him before her face turned sour again "But you took way too long to realise it!" she scolded

"Yeah, evidently" he confessed only to have to back away as Annie tried to punch him again, nearly falling out of her window as she did so. She took the opportunity to look at Kaneki and realised how careless he was being, he was hanging upside-down by one kagune, dug into the wall above her window

"What if someone sees you?" she warned

"Don't worry, I didn't intend to stay long anyway" he waved it off

"With all the damage Levi did to you, I'm surprised you can still use that thing. Your healing ability is scary" she remarked, staring at his kagune

"I have found it a bit more difficult to use, I can only use two tentacles for the time being, so I'm going to try to avoid getting into any confrontations as best I can. I'll be on my way now. Oh yeah, Annie, keep your guard up, you may be their target" he reminded her as he flung himself away

Not bothering to wave goodbye or any such like, Annie went to her dresser and dug out a ring, she pulled a small spike out of the ring and poked at it with her thumb, testing it's sharpness. "No need to worry about me"

* * *

Quickly getting dressed in her military getup, she slipped the ring into her pocket and began to walk downstairs, where she assumed the rest of the new recruits were. Lo and behold, that's where they were. As soon as Annie was in view, Hitch turned to her and grinned "You're finally up? Sorry I couldn't wake you up, that face is way too scary when you're asleep"

 _"_ _Please stop talking, every time you speak to me, I can feel the intelligence draining from my brain"_ Annie begged internally, not wanting to engage in any conversation with these annoying people

"You've been slacking off too much lately. Just because you were put in charge of one job by our worthless superiors doesn't mean you can slack off on your daily duties" a dark-haired boy warned her, she couldn't remember his name, all she knew was that he was annoying

It was at this point that Annie stopped listening to them, choosing to occupy herself by thinking about ways she could tease Touka about the recent development in her and Kaneki's relationship. For her, it was certainly a fun topic to think about.

"Oi! Pay attention!" the boy warned her again, apparently their superior was approaching. They all saluted the officer, to which he waved it off and told them not to bother with it.

"Alright, today I've got something different from your usual stuff. This is about a group of Survey Corps members that have been summoned to the capital" the mention of the Survey Corps instantly caught Annie's attention _"If they've been summoned to the capital, the commander is probably with them. This must be what Kaneki's here for"_

"They're going to be passing through the centre street today. The Military Police HQ is in charge of escorting them, so we're only tasked with tagging along as they pass through. Temporary permission to use ODM gear in town has been given. Move alongside the escort squad and bolster up their security. That is all"

"May I ask a question?" the tall boy asked his superior

"Hm? What is it?" the officer replied, clearly uninterested, but the boy persisted nonetheless

"What will we be defending them against? I've not heard of any large groups of rebels residing behind the walls, with the exception of Anteiku, who has only two members and could hardly pose a threat to us" Annie felt a bit angry about how he was referring to her and her friends, completely ignorant of the power they possess, "There may be petty criminals, but none would be so foolish as to attack the military directly, especially without motive"

"You seem reliable, here" the officer shoved the papers detailing the mission into the tall boy's hands "I'm leaving this all to you. We officers don't have time for this stuff, try to handle it on your own. Just, don't screw it up" he warned them as he exited into a room where some other officers were playing cards, drinking and smoking. The message behind his words were clear, "Don't screw this up or I'll be held responsible"

"Hey, can I take a look at that real quick?" Annie asked as she took the papers out of the boy's hand

"Hey! Don't ask only to snatch it from me!" he berated her, but she was occupied with the documents before her _"So the Survey Corps is bringing Eren to the capital to be executed. This details the route we'll be taking, so if I can get in contact with Kaneki, maybe we can get Eren out of this. Who knows, maybe he'll trust us a little bit more?"_ Annie mused before turning back to the tall boy and shoving the papers back into his hands, "I'm done"

"Don't act like you're in charge!" he snapped at her before leading the rest of the recruits out to get prepared

* * *

"This is proving to be more troublesome than I thought it would be" Kaneki mused aloud, releasing his grip on the necks of the two officers of the Military Police, dropping them to the ground as he turned to the third. This one had not tried to capture him, so he seemed a little smarter than the others, if only by a small margin.

Kaneki walked up to the cowering man, who tried to back away from him, only to trip over his own feet and fall onto his back, looking up at Kaneki, positively petrified, as if he were the personification of death itself. Kaneki bent down to speak with the man and began to speak "Would you mind telling me what the Military Police is doing? An escort group that large for two carriages is unnecessary, and I'm well aware of how lazy the Military Police is, you would never do anything that you could avoid" Kaneki interrogated the terrified man

"I-I-It's that t-titan boy, he's being sent to the c-c-capital 'cause he's going to be e-executed" the man barely managed to stutter out a response

"Is that so? That's rather problematic, I'll have to deal with that later. Now, would you tell me when they'll be here?" Kaneki asked, rather politely

"They-They'll be here in less than h-half an hour! There, I-I've told you all you wanted to know, n-n-now l-let me go!" the man insisted

"As you wish, however, if you tell anyone that I'm here, I'll kill you" the ghoul warned, his voice chilling, his one visible eye screaming bloodlust

"Y-Yes, Mr Eyepatch" the man began to crawl away, only to suddenly fall to the ground as Kaneki knocked him out with a light chop to the back of the man's neck

"Unfortunately, I'm not taking any risks for now, I'm sorry" he apologised to the unconscious man as he dragged him and his two colleagues away. He took the military jacket off of one of the men and put it on before tying the trio up and leaving them somewhere where they wouldn't be able to interfere with him, even if they wanted to.

"Now then, I've got less than half an hour before they get here, I'd better hurry" he spoke to himself as he took to the rooftops, heading towards the gate

* * *

The escort mission had barely begun for her, the carriage carrying Eren had just passed through the gate, when a voice called out to her. "Annie"

Whoever called out to her was too quiet for her to know their identity, so she had little choice but to follow them, after all, it could've been Kaneki coming to have her help him get Eren away. The person disappeared into an alley as soon as they called out to her, the only thing she knew of the person was that they wore a large cloak. Following them around a corner, the person confronted her. Standing in front of her was perhaps one of the most dangerous people for her to come across, Armin Arlet "Hey… already a fully fledged MP, I see" he greeted her

Trying to avoid raising his suspicions, Annie spoke casually "Armin, what's the matter? What's up with the cloak?"

"It's to hide my ODM gear" he opened up his cloak to reveal his, rather neatly hidden, gear "Now, Annie… can you… come with us and help Eren escape?"

"Escape? Where to? After disobeying a royal command, where within the walls will he run to?" Annie asked, eager to get some information out of him

"We only intend to hide him temporarily, openly defying the monarchy would be foolish. It may look like an act of insubordination by the Survey Corps, but we need time to gather what we will use to change the council's mind, without fail"

"You seem awfully sure of that, does something so convenient exist? Any leads?" Annie asked, hoping to find out who the military was going to attack

"Sorry, I can't say" he apologised

Annie sighed, knowing the risk would be too high for her, "Sorry, it's out of the question. I won't tell anyone so, do you best" she said as she walked away, hoping to find Kaneki so she could inform him of their plan

"Annie! Please! At this rate, Eren will be killed!" Annie couldn't help but stop at this, if Eren died, that would throw everything out of order, something she couldn't permit "Ignorant people, for their own sakes, are unwittingly attempting to set humanity on a path to extinction! I know I'm not being very convincing. Even so, all that we've been left with is a huge gamble! Of course, I'll do my best to avoid getting you in trouble, but we need a member of the Military Police in order to bypass the inspections within Wall Sina. There is no other option!"

"Do I really look like such a good person to you?"

"A good person? I really don't like that term, I mean, it's just someone who's acting in a way that's beneficial to you. I don't think anyone can act in a way that benefits everyone. That said, if you don't agree to cooperate… that'd make you a bad person to me"

"Fine" Annie gave in with a sigh, Armin's face lit up for a moment before averting his eyes from her. Annie placed her ring on her finger, prepared to flick out the blade at a moments notice

* * *

He managed to join with the Military Police escort, disguised in the uniform he took from one of the officers he beat up. Almost all of them were young, new recruits, barely any of them taking their job seriously. "I wonder if Annie's here with them" he mused as he got closer to the carriage. If he wanted to get Eren out of this, he'd need to have Eren on his side, at the very least, make sure Eren would take advantage of an opening.

Approaching the carriage, Kaneki noticed something that put him on edge, or rather the absence of something, Eren's titan scent. The ghoul ran up to the carriage and took a quick look into the carriage, instantly recognising him as Jean, wearing a wig, evidently he was acting as Eren's body double. _"If this isn't Eren, then where is he?"_ Kaneki panicked for a moment, looking around him for any leads. He found himself looking towards the other carriage, where he could see two blue eyes, watching him carefully through the back window, the commander was watching him.

Once he realised this, Kaneki made a break for it, running perpendicular to the escort group into an alleyway where he stopped to come up with a plan. Only to find out he had been followed, two of them, he could hear their footsteps getting closer and their voices getting louder.

"Damn it, if Annie ditching the mission wasn't bad enough, now someone else too?!" a deep-sounding voice complained

"I don't get why you had to drag me along with you for this, it's a real pain" a second voice grumbled, a girl this time

The mention of his friend and comrade put Kaneki on edge _"Why would Annie abandon her job? Perhaps she is ahead of me and is securing an exit for Eren?"_ he ran through the possibilities in his head before stepping out in front of the two, quickly kicking the girl into the wall as he grabbed the other by his collar and slammed him into the wall, not hard enough to knock the boy out.

"Tell me, where is Annie?" he asked impatiently

"What? Annie? She ditched her mission, disappeared almost as soon as it began" the boy explained

"As soon as it began, I see" Kaneki dropped the boy, as he tried to figure out what was going on _"Is it Reiner? No, they're probably still with Touka and the others to avoid suspicion. Then it must be Eren. But where would they have gone? They're aren't many paths out of the city that would allow for stealth, perhaps I should go back there and see if I can find any trace of her"_

"You… how do you know Annie?" the boy asked Kaneki, still coughing from being strangled

"Does it matter? Either way, you won't be able to do anything about it. You are just Military Police grunts" he spoke of their jobs as if it were an insult

"If you plan to do anything to harm one of my comrades, I will stop you" the boy resolved, suddenly seeming brave  
"Big words. But can you back them up, I was able to incapacitate you and your friend there with ease. So what can you do on your own, grunt?" Kaneki warned

"First, my name is Marlowe. Remember it! I am the one who will clean up the Military Police, and I will begin by capturing you!" he spoke as he charged Kaneki, only to be delivered a strong blow to the jaw by Kaneki's fist as soon as he got close to the ghoul

"That took more effort than usual, maybe it's not just my kagune that's been weakened" Kaneki observed, clenching and unclenching his fist before turning to the unconscious boy "Cleaning up the Military Police, huh? Good luck with that, Marlowe" Kaneki said as he headed towards the gate again only to see a group of Survey Corps soldiers, using their ODM gear in the distance.

Curious as to what they were doing, Kaneki tailed the group, only to see them stop suddenly and duck to the ground. As he approached them, a faint smell tickled at his nose, titan shifter. Using his kagune to increase his height, Kaneki scanned the area, he noticed a large number of people, soldiers and regular civilians, all in groups, attempting to keep hidden. _"What are they hiding from? Which titan shifter do I smell? What are you planning, Commander Erwin?"_

Kaneki quickly found his answers as his eyes fell on a young blonde girl, stood before an underground entrance, laughing freely. "Annie?" Kaneki prepared to launch himself to where Annie stood

 _"_ _If a force this large has been sent to watch her, they aren't suspicious of her. They_ _ **know**_ _she's a titan shifter!"_ Kaneki worked out as he flew towards the girl

* * *

(Five minutes earlier)

"This is the place!" Armin exclaimed as he approached the entrance

"Here?" Annie asked him, well aware of what was happening

"They are the ruins of a planned and abandoned underground city, they lead all the way to a place near the exit point of Wall Sina" Armin explained

"Is that true?" Annie inquired as she stopped at the entrance while the others continued down the stairs, _"Even if Armin's lying about where it comes out to get me to go down there, if we can get a map of the underground tunnels, it could be very useful to us"_

"It is, it's far safer than moving above ground… Annie?" Armin turned to see the girl waiting at the top of the stairs

"What's the matter with you? Don't start spewing some crap about being afraid of dark and narrow spaces!" Eren growled at her

"That's right, got a problem with that? I doubt a suicidal blockhead like you could ever understand the feelings of a frail girl like me" Annie spat back at him, trying to stall for time to come up with an escape plan

"There is nothing frail about someone who can flip a grown man 360 degrees through the air. Stop being stupid, we need to get a move on!" Eren continued walking down the stairs

"No. I'm not going. I'm scared of that way, we go above ground or I won't help" Annie gave them an ultimatum

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! HURRY UP AND GET DOWN HERE! STOP SCREWING AROUND!" Eren screamed at the girl

"Eren don't yel-""Why shouldn't he, Mikasa?" Annie interrupted her "I feel like I know why, but I haven't seen a single person around us for a while now. Seriously, that hurts. Armin, when did you start looking at me like that?"

"Annie… why did you have Marco's gear? I always fixed my gear with him, so I recognised it" Armin asked hesitantly

"Oh, that's how? I just… found it" Annie found there to be no point in trying to explain herself, they already were targeting her _"If only I'd had him stick around a bit, I wouldn't be in this mess. Where is that idiot when you need him?"_ she wished for her comrade to come and help her

"You tried to kill the titans that we captured?"

"Who knows? But if that's what you thought a month ago, why not come forward about it?" Annie tried to drag out the conversation, she didn't want to use her titan form in the middle of the city, there would be far too many civilian casualties

"Even right now, I'm hoping that I'd made a mistake. That's why… but, Annie, it's because you didn't kill me when we were beyond the walls that all of this is happening"

"I completely agree with you. I never thought you'd be able to corner me to such an extent. But I still let you live, why do you think I did that?" Annie asked them

"Hey, Annie, there's still a chance that you're just an idiot who's playing along as part of some dumb joke! Anyways, just get over here! YOU CAN STILL PROVE SOMETHING IF YOU JUST COME DOWN HERE! SO DO IT ALREADY!" Eren yelled

"Impossible" Annie replied curtly "I'm not a warrior anymore"

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU, ENOUGH WITH THE DUMB JOKES!" Eren seemed desperate

"Annie, talk to us! We can still discus-" "Enough of this" Mikasa interrupted as she removed her cloak and drew one of her blades "I can't listen to anymore of this. It's a waste of time. I'm going to rip you to shreds, Female Titan"

Before she realised it herself, Annie was laughing _"That's it. They know. It's all out in the open now. No more hiding who I am any more"_ she felt liberated, as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders

"Hey, Armin. Isn't it great that I was a good person to you? It looks like your gamble paid off. However… this is where mine begins" Annie brought her hand up to her face, ready to bite it and activate her ability, when Armin quickly shot a pistol into the air. Causing several people to appear from the shadows and close in on Annie from all directions.

"Heh, it's about time you got here" Annie spoke with a smile on her face as she watched as all of those who tried to get to her were all repelled by a single, blood red tentacle. Within a single moment, the tentacle slammed into the stomach of each of them with incredible force, sending them all flying as the figure responsible landed next to Annie. He wore a Military Police uniform, without ODM gear, and his signature mask showed only one black and red eye. As he landed on the ground, his snow white hair fell over his face, while a single, large, scaly tentacle coming from his back, ready to strike down any who dared approach. Eyepatch was here.

"Sorry, I'm late"

* * *

 **This chapter was rather fun to write, but not much action, nor titans, sorry :(  
The next chapter will be a lot more exciting, I'll try to get it out soon, hopefully I can get it done before the weekend's over, fingers crossed  
Let me know how you think they'll get out of this, will they force their way out? Will anyone be captured? Will Annie be trapped in her crystal? I'm curious to see what you think**


	17. What We Fight For

"Sorry, I'm late" Eyepatch made his entrance

"You're slow!" Annie kicked him in the shin "If you had got here any later, I would've had to use my titan form"

"That may still be the case now, quite the difficult situation we're in" Eyepatch reasoned

"Agreed"

"So she does have a connection to Anteiku, isn't that right, Kaneki?" Mikasa spat, ready to kill the both of them at any moment

Eyepatch seemed surprised for a moment, his single visible eye widened slightly before relaxing again. "So that's how it is" The ghoul began removing his mask to reveal the face of their friend and comrade, Kaneki Ken. "What gave it away?"

"Tch, we're the ones who'll be asking questions!"

"No way, it can't be" Eren seemed to be in a state of shock at the revelation

"Eren, remember, we discussed this at the meeting" Armin reminded his best friend

* * *

"You think Annie's the female titan?!" Eren couldn't stop himself from yelling "How could you even think that, Armin?"

"Eren, she knew what you looked like, that's why she was checking the faces of those on the expedition beyond the wall before killing them. But, in attempting to kill those two titans we captured, they clashed with Anteiku, a group that even Captain Levi and Mikasa were unable to defeat, so I think she used her own gear for that because she's more familiar with it. Then she presented Marco's equipment during the inspection to avoid detection"

"What? Now Marco's involved too?" Eren complained

"I'm not sure how… I might've seen wrong"

"Hey, kid. I keep hearing about how you think you've found someone who might be the female titan, but do you have any other evidence?" Levi chimed in

"To me, the female titan looked like Annie" Mikasa defended

"Huh? What're you saying?! You're using that as your evidence?!" Eren objected

"In other words, we have no evidence, but we're doing it anyway. I see. What's next? I hear you found some connection between her and Anteiku?" Levi changed the subject

"Yes, since Anteiku was watching the fight between Eren and the Female Titan, without doing anything, I believe that they are connected somehow" Mikasa explained

"But one of the members came and told Erwin himself that Anteiku wouldn't be interfering in the operation beyond the walls. They said they were only going to observe, however, **you** screwed that up by attacking them without being instructed to do so. Because of that, we may have had a potential ally turn their back on us now, and I've been put out of action until I heal, all because you couldn't hold yourself back" Levi scolded Mikasa, she face gave no indication of regret, but she was visibly clenching her fists

"Which leads onto my next point, the identity of at least one of the members of Anteiku. I believe Eyepatch is Kaneki Ken of the 104th cadet corps" Mikasa revealed

"Kaneki too?! What's with you guys and accusing our friends?!" Eren ranted

Ignoring Eren's ranting, Mikasa continued "Kaneki's strength is far beyond my own, I recognised it when Eyepatch knocked me out in the forest. I've never seen anyone else with such strength before"

"Is that it? Because you've never met anyone stronger than you, you believe they are both the same person?" Levi expressed his doubts, but he seemed to be considering it "As I clashed with Eyepatch, I saw that he has white hair, does this go along with your accusation?"

"Yes, Kaneki has white hair" Mikasa confirmed

"White hair? If he was in the cadet corps with you, isn't he a bit young for his hair to be turning grey?" Hange asked, curious

"Actually, there is a reason for it, Touka once explained it to me. It's called Marie Antoinette syndrome, she said it's the whitening of hair under stress" Armin explained

"Is that true, I've seen a lot of people in shitty situations, but I've never seen anything like that before"

"Touka told me that Kaneki was once tortured for ten days straight" Armin kept his voice low

"Ten days? Impossible" Levi deadpanned "To be under constant torture for that long is impossible, there are only so many things you can do to somebody and most of them leave permanent damage-"

"Wait a minute, Levi" Hange interrupted "Eyepatch was able to heal instantly when you fought him, right? So, if he can heal from his wounds, then it's perfectly feasible"

The realisation of what Eyepatch/Kaneki had been through caused everyone to remain silent for a moment as they tried to imagine the horror he must have faced.

"If I'm not mistaken, you were third in your year, right? This 'Kaneki' was number one? Perhaps number two is Rabbit?"

"Touka? Rabbit? It's… a possibility" Armin agreed hesitantly

"This 'Touka' seems to know a lot about 'Kaneki', so if it turns out that we're right about him being Eyepatch, then it would make sense" Hange theorised

Armin began to sweat visibly as he defended "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, we don't even know for sure that Kaneki's Eyepa-"

"THAT'S IT!" Eren stood up and slammed his hands on the table "TOUKA AND KANEKI ARE TWO OF THE BEST PEOPLE I KNOW! THEY ALWAYS HELPED OUT WHENEVER I NEEDED IT! AND ANNIE IS THE ONE WHO TAUGHT ME HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT! THEY'RE ALL MY FRIENDS AND I WON'T LET YOU INSULT THEM!"

"Eren, shut up" Levi ordered

"Eren, if it turns out that we're wrong about Annie, then I would feel bad for Annie. But, as things are, you'll end up being a sacrifice for the ones in power" Armin reasoned

"Eren, has anything come to mind after hearing all this?" Mikasa asked "You fought the female titan hand-to-hand, didn't you see any of Annie's techniques then?"

* * *

"We don't have many options here, do we? Should we force our way out?" Annie suggested

"Impossible, we may be able to break through, but we would be unable to escape them. You don't have the stamina to keep your titan form up for that long and I'm not at full strength" Kaneki reminded her

"What do you suggest then?"

"I'm not sure, give me a moment"

"We don't have a moment to spare!" Annie protested, pointing out the Survey Corps soldiers who had begun to emerge from their hiding spaces

"C'mon! Think! Think! Think! Think, you idiot!" Kaneki ordered himself "It's too risky to try to-"

"Kaneki, we won't be able to get through this without taking risks!" Annie interrupted his thoughts "If it means that our work continues, I don't care if you put me in danger! If you want me to give in to them, or buy time for you to escape, I'll do just that! **Only** if you order it, though"

Kaneki felt a little anxious at those words, his worries only growing further as an idea popped into his head "Annie, I'm going to need you to trust me…" Kaneki lowered his voice to a mere whisper as he explained his plan

"That's a big gamble…" Annie's face dawned a grin "….let's see if it pays off!"

Kaneki jumped away from his comrade as she flicked out the spike on her ring and slashed her thumb against it. With a mighty crash of lightning, the body of a fourteen meter titan formed around Annie.

The one-eyed ghoul quickly landed on Annie's shoulder and gave her a warning "I'll buy you two minutes, now get going!"

Following her orders, the female titan turned away from her assailants and began to run towards the wall. As some of the soldiers began to give chase, they found their path blocked by the ghoul, who had revealed a second tentacle. "Sorry, but I can't allow you to pass just yet"

"We're switching over to plan B! Eren, it's all on you from here on out" Armin told his friend

"R-Right, here goes" Eren brought his fist to his face and buried his teeth into his hand, however he did not transform, the only thing it brought about was a lot of pain and blood from his hand "Why… Why isn't it working?! Shit, that hurts!"

"You can't transform without a specific goal in mind, right? Focus and visualise it again"

"Or… is it that you're still hesitant about fighting them?" Mikasa spoke calmly, but her words shook Eren to his core "Don't tell me you're still thinking that we're mistaking Annie and Kaneki as our enemies? Didn't you just see what happened? She's the one who killed so many of our comrades, right? In that case, shouldn't you be fighting? If Kaneki is getting in the way then we have to fight him too!"

"We have to go after her now, with every second we waste here, she's getting further away!" Armin informed them "Mikasa, can you keep Kaneki busy, just for a little while? We need to catch up with her but we can't with him in the way"

"Understood" Mikasa said as she rushed towards where Kaneki was holding back the Survey Corps

"How? How can you two still fight?" Eren called out to his friends

"Because we have no choice, the world is a cruel place" Mikasa informed him as she charged ahead

On some level, he knew they were right, he had witnessed it himself. Each time he had encountered them there was a small part of him that recognised them. When he lost control of his titan form, it was a familiar voice that was speaking to him, that helped him. When Anteiku tried to recruit him, he recognised their voices and body types. Finally, just as Mikasa said, when he fought the female titan, he had seen all of her techniques before, it's how he had managed to hold his own against her for so long. Here they were, both Eyepatch and the Female Titan, right in front of him. Yet he couldn't move, he couldn't use his titan form, he couldn't even speak.

Mikasa, on the other hand, did not have that issue, as she charged the leader of Anteiku head-on, hoping to keep him busy while the Survey Corps dealt with Annie. She was upon the ghoul within a moment, slashing at him with all she had. The blades slammed against the ghoul's chest, knocking him back a couple of feet, before he recovered and ran at Mikasa, considerably slower than she could remember him being. He brought his leg up and slammed it into Mikasa's side, _"He's weaker now! Did his fight with Captain Levi weaken him this much?! I might actually be able to win!"_ Mikasa found a small ray of hope

"Tch, I might not be able to even hold out for two minutes" Kaneki realised as it took all he had to keep just Mikasa at bay, let alone the rest of the Survey Corps who were trying to force their way past him

"Then get out of our way!" Mikasa ordered as she slashed at him again, this time her blade found it's way to his right eye, cutting deep enough to render it useless

The sight of blood from him came as a great surprise to her, she hadn't been given the blades that Captain Levi had, so blood was unexpected. However, to Kaneki, it made him realise just how weak he had gotten. _"My regeneration's not working?! This is bad, if this keeps up, it could be dangerous. I need to eat! Damn it!"_

"Is it me or are you much faster than usual?" Kaneki asked, landing on a rooftop as he tried to buy some time to regenerate

"Both. It's my fault that Captain Levi was put out of commission, so I have to take responsibility for my actions" Mikasa spoke quickly before rushing Kaneki again, attempting to take out his other eye

"Tch, don't get cocky!" Kaneki snapped as he ducked out of the way, launching his kagune towards his opponent, ripping her blades to smithereens. Not wasting the opening, Kaneki launched a powerful fist into Mikasa's abdomen, knocking her into a chimney "You saw that you were able to damage my eyes with you blades so you made targeting my remaining eye your priority… A few words of advice for the future, if your opponent knows what you're aiming for, it makes it much easier for them to predict your attacks and interfere with them. Who knows? It may help you when you're fighting a titan shifter" he advised her "And… that's two minutes. Sorry, Annie, but from here on out, you're on your own"

"What?!" Mikasa exclaimed, before readying her blades again "Where do you think you're going?"

"Unfortunately, in my present condition, I don't think I can win against you" he admitted

"Did you think I'd just let you leave?!"

"Would you be surprised if I said yes? Besides, I would've thought that she'd be a higher priority target than myself" Kaneki pointed to Annie, who was a considerable distance away, attempting to escape the Survey Corps pursuers on her tail

"She won't escape either!" Mikasa declared

"Since Levi's out of action, you've been occupied with me and Eren's… somewhere, I'd say it's unlikely that anything could stop her. Come to think of it, where is Eren?" Kaneki began to scan his surroundings, eventually finding Eren stood in the middle of the street, doing nothing. "Found him"

Jumping down to say hello, Kaneki saw a strange look in Eren's eyes, one that he had never seen him dawn before. He looked terrified. "Eren? What's wrong?"

Eren quickly turned to look at Kaneki, "Hey, Kaneki… why is this happening? You and Annie, I thought we were friends?"

"Eren, there's no point talking with this monster!" Mikasa interrupted as she landed beside Eren

"Let me guess, you can't fight Annie because she's your friend. I understand that way of thinking. However, Eren, if you are unable to endure this, you won't make it through what is yet to come. You won't be able to change anything"

"What the hell are you-?!""He's right, Eren. As much as I hate it, he's right" Mikasa stopped Eren from screaming at the ghoul "The world is a cruel place, I told you"

"She's right. However, because you lack the ability to do anything, you may lose everything that is important to you. I should know, I've seen it myself. If you don't stand and fight now, you are putting Armin and Mikasa in danger. You need to choose, Eren. Annie or Mikasa?"

Not saying a word, Eren began to walk forwards, putting some distance between himself and his friends. "What is your choice, Eren?" Kaneki asked him, already knowing what he would choose

"Isn't it obvious? I choose... MIKASA!" he roared as a bolt of lightning came down from the sky as Eren's titan formed around him. With a deafening roar, Eren began to run towards Annie's location.

"Eren…" Mikasa watched him with a gentle smile

"You might want to go with him. He'll probably try a little harder with you there" Kaneki informed her

"Why did you do that? Isn't Annie connected to Anteiku?"

"Of course, but what's required here for us isn't victory" Kaneki hinted as he walked away from her, leaving her to ponder his words

"If they're not trying to win here, what are they planning? Damn it, I'll ask Armin later. Right now, I need to go to Eren" Mikasa reflected as she launched herself onto Eren's shoulder, hitching a ride to the battlefield

"Now then, first of all, I need to eat. Lately it's been one battle after another, there hasn't been many opportunities to stop and eat" Kaneki complained as he noticed a severely battered body on the ground, in a small crater. It was a Survey Corps' soldiers, apparently he was killed when he attempted to go for Annie's nape. "Speak of the devil, I'll need to be at full strength for what comes next" he spoke to himself as he bent down to the corpse, sinking his teeth into the soldier's torso and helping himself to a taste.

* * *

"That roar… so Eren's finally coming to fight me?" Annie mused as she scanned her surroundings, searching for some indication of where he would be coming from. She could hear him coming, a low thumping sound was getting louder, but she couldn't tell where from "Where is he-?" her train of thought was interrupted as Eren's fist met with her jaw in a powerful hit

"Tch, more power than I expected!" Annie thought as she found herself launched into the side of a building. Looking down, she noticed her hands were stained with blood as she had crushed a large number of Wallists as she fell.

Not given time to think, Annie saw Eren rushing towards her again "Damn it, I need to get to an open area" she decided as she ran towards the best one she could think of

"STAY AWAY FROM THE WALL!" she could hear one of the surviving Wallists call out to her

Apparently, it wasn't just Eren she had to deal with as she noticed a squadron of Survey Corps soldiers gaining on her. "Get away!" she yelled as she smashed apart the roof of a building, flinging rubble in the Survey Corps path. The rubble served it's purpose in halting them momentarily, but before she could congratulate herself, she had to dodge as Mikasa appeared in front of her, attempting to slash at her eyes. Luckily, Annie had moved in time so she just recieved two large cuts on her cheeks. "She's going for my eyes, huh?"

 _"_ _If your opponent knows what you're aiming for, it makes it much easier for them to predict your attacks and interfere with them"_ Kaneki's words echoed in Mikasa's mind as she flew into Annie's path again, heading towards her face

Predicting Mikasa's target, Annie swung her fist at the girl, only for her to change direction suddenly, this time targeting her legs. At the sudden change in target, Annie was a second late in defending, receiving a large slash across her left thigh. Her movement slowed considerably, she took longer than she should've to reach an open area, just enough time for Eren to catch up with her.

"Damn it! I have to put Eren out of action if I want to get through this!" Annie realised as she raised her arms into a combat stance.

Eren made the first move, rather impatiently, taking a step forward as he launched his fist towards Annie. However, Annie quickly hardened her shin and smashed it through Eren's leading leg, causing him to lose balance. Not giving up so easily, Eren jumped with his one, remaining leg and threw another powerful punch at Annie. This time she was barely able to raise her hand in time to block it, though it mattered little, the sheer power behind his punch was enough to push her back.

"Annie" a familiar voice crept into Annie's mind

"Damn it! Why now? Why am I remembering this now?" she complained "I've made my resolve, I can't turn back now!"

Eren had fallen to the ground, unable to land properly after his jump. Using her hardened shin, she swung around and kicked him in the face, severing his arm as he tried to block her. She was sure he wouldn't be able to stop her anymore, until she heard a cracking sound and a sharp pain formed in her shin. Taking a proper look, she saw that Eren's mouth was wrapped around her leg, his teeth digging into her hardened skin.

"Are you serious?!" Annie exclaimed as she hardened the bottom of her fist before slamming it into Eren's head

"Annie" the familiar voice spoke again

"Shut up!" she screamed as she slammed her fist into Eren's head again

"Your father will always be on your side"

"Shut up!" once again, she pummelled Eren's skull, and again, and again, and again. Once she had finished, Eren's titan brain was exposed to the air, his grip on her leg already having been released.

* * *

It was a strange feeling, he could feel all of Annie's attacks, yet he wasn't in pain, his titan brain took too much damage for him to be able to feel anything. His body wasn't responding to him, he could feel no strength within him. It felt like even surrendering control of his titan body was impossible.

He could hear a slight murmuring from afar, slowly getting louder and louder as it developed into a whisper. "Eren" it spoke to him

"Who is that?"

"Eren… Eren… Eren!" the voice kept calling to him with increasing urgency

"This voice… I know it… Mikasa? he recognised her voice

"Eren... Eren… Eren!"

"What's wrong, Mikasa?... Did I do something stupid again?... Did I make you clean up after me again?... Sorry" he apologised

His body began to heal, slowly but surely, his sensory organs began to function again. His eyes recovered slowly, only allowing a dim light to enter at first, before it gradually grew brighter and a picture began to form in front of him. There she was.

"Mikasa"

Her lithe figure was all that he was able to make out, probably because she was so close to him. She was literally latched on to his face, her body right in front of his eyes. "What's wrong with her?… Why is she here?… Doesn't she know I could lose control at any time?... Oh, yeah… I already did that, didn't I?... She tried to help me and I ended up snapping at her and hurting her… huh?... How many times have I done that?... Wait, have I always been doing that?... Mikasa, have I always been hurting you?"

"Eren!" Mikasa's voice once again called out to him

"Yeah… I thought so... I can't take back all that I've done… but I can choose what I do from here on out"

"You need to choose, Eren" he remembered Kaneki's words

"Shut up! I already know what needs to be done!"

"Annie or Mikasa?"

"I KNOW!" Eren roared as he rose to his feet, suddenly fully healed. He rushed towards Annie at a speed even he didn't know he was capable of. Within moments, he had caught up to Annie, who was jumping up towards the wall.

"Since when can he move that fast?!" she panicked as she jumped towards the wall. However, no sooner than she had left the ground, her right leg was separated from her. Sparing a moment to glance downwards, where Eren had his fist buried deep into the wall, along with her leg. "He got a power boost too?!"

Hardening her fingers, she dug them into the wall as she climbed, quicker and quicker up the walls she went. The Survey Corps were still yet to catch up with her, she would reach her objective long before they could stop her. Or so she thought.

Moving far beyond the speed achievable by using ODM gear, Mikasa appeared above her. With one quick slash, she severed all of the fingers on her right hand. Annie looked down to see Eren with Armin beside him

"He threw her?" Annie realised as she dug her remaining fingers further into the wall before pulling them out, holding a chunk of the wall in her hand. As she fell she stared up at the sky as the familiar voice spoke to her again.

"Annie… what I did was wrong. I'm not going to ask you to forgive me after all that's happened. But… there is one thing, just one thing I want to ask of you…"

"Dad…"

"I don't care if you make the entire world your enemy. Even if every other creature alive comes to hate you your father will always be on your side"

"Dad, thank you"

"So please, promise me… that you'll come home!"

"I promise! Just wait for me, I'm coming home soon!" Annie promised tears welling up in her eyes

* * *

The fall from the wall proved to be beyond what her titan form could handle, her titan form was left in pieces, but her real body remained intact. Eren held what was left of her body down in case she healed and tried to escape.

"Quickly, cut her out of there" she could hear the soldiers coming towards her

 _"_ _I guess I'll make things a bit easier for them"_ she thought as she tried to exit her titan body

Steam emerging from her nape, the soldiers stood by and observed, ready to attack at any moment. Through the steam, she emerged, the target of the whole operation, spitting a bit as she ripped herself from her titan form. Standing atop her own broken body, she looked out at the sea of soldiers, each of them waiting for her next move. She then turned to look up at Eren, his titan's face looked cautious, his eyes glued to her.

 _"_ _If I try anything either Eren will crush me or the Survey Corps will slash me apart. A rather dangerous situation that bastard has put me into, isn't it?"_ She mused as she thought of her white-haired friend

Raising her hands upwards, Annie announced to the Survey Corps "I surrender"

It was interesting, not one of them took her words at face value, each of them cautiously watching her as she jumped off her titan and walked towards them.

"Go, keep her restrained and take her underground, quickly" Hange ordered as ten soldiers surrounded Annie, one of them binding her hands behind her back "Mission complete"

"For both of us" Annie added on

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Hange asked, gripping the girl's collar

Annie merely twitched her head, indicating to Mikasa's position, still high up on the wall

"Huh? Why is she still up there?" Hange asked nobody in particular, and then she found the reason. Mikasa was staring into the hole in the wall that Annie had made, where the face of a titan could be seen.

"What?! Why is there a titan there?!"

"Your orders, Section Commander Hange?" one of the soldiers called out, to receive no response from the terrified woman, a rather irregular emotion for the titan fanatic

"I'll be underground if you need me…" Annie teased as she walked with her escort to an underground tunnel, which was to be her prison

"For now at least"

* * *

 **This chapter was rather difficult to write, I wasn't sure how Annie was feeling at this point in canon  
I put off the Eren vs Kaneki fight for now, sorry :P  
Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a good enough reason for the Survey Corps to attack Anteiku earlier on other than Mikasa getting over-protective Eren  
** **How will Annie get out of this? What was Kaneki's plan? Let me know what you think :)**


	18. Interrogation & Escape

It was pretty dark. Save for the occasional light coming from under the door as somebody on patrol walked past, she was left alone in the dark. She had been brought here by the Survey Corps, but ultimately, it was the Military Police who gained custody of her, how that happened she had no idea.

Her prison consisted of a fairly large room, in which she sat on a chair in the centre, which she was tied to to prevent any escape attempts. Her hands bound to the arms of the chair, she couldn't do anything. The Survey Corps had even taken the ring from her finger, fully aware of the possibility of it hiding a means of titan transformation.

"Just goes to show how seriously they're taking their jobs. It looks like their not going to leave much to chance. I would've thought they'd put me in a gag to prevent me biting myself, but apparently not."

She could hear footsteps getting closer, at least five people were coming in her direction. Closer, closer, closer… "Here she is, the titan shifter, Annie Leonhart. You have ten minutes." one of the soldiers said as he opened the door to her prison.

"Well well, isn't this an honour?" Annie said as she scanned the faces of those who came to speak with her "Commander of the Military Police, Nile Dok, the Commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith, and his subordinates, Section Commander Hange Zoe and Captain Levi, the famed "Strongest Soldier" who was able to fight Eyepatch to a draw. Oh, Armin too? Sorry, I didn't see you there." she apologised to the blond boy bringing up the rear.

She could see two Military Police soldiers stood outside the room and closed the door, standing on guard. "All of these very important people within the military, for all off you to come here for me. A girl could start to feel special." Annie teased.

"Annie…" Armin looked at her with a strange look on his face.

"Shut up, titan!" Nile quickly lost his temper with the girl, "Thanks to you and Erwin, over a hundred innocent people lost their lives!"

"I'm aware." Annie spoke flatly

"And yet you just sit there!" he gripped at her collar.

"Nile, that's enou-""What else would you have me do?" Annie interrupted Erwin's attempt to calm the man down.

"Do you want me to apologise for causing the deaths of a mere hundred people in the interior? Are you not aware of who you're dealing with? I am one of those who caused the fall of Maria five years ago, many more than a hundred people died then, and you want me to repent for the mere hundred privileged ones who just died? Are you an idiot?" Annie spoke harshly, causing Nile to take a step back from the girl.

"Your sense of ethics aside, we have some questions for you," Erwin said as he began flicking through some documents.

"I will answer some questions, and I will ask some myself, sound good?"

"As you wish. Hange, go ahead." Erwin said as he leaned against one of the walls of the cell, handing Hange the documents.

"Thanks, Erwin. Now then, you gave in to us surprisingly easily, why is that?" Hange began her interrogation.

"Because I accomplished my mission."

"And that was?"

"To show you what was inside the wall."

"Who gave you that mission and why?"

"Eyepatch, as for why, you'd have to ask him."

"Eyepatch is a member of Anteiku, going by the name Kaneki Ken, what are-?" "My turn now!" Annie chimed in, surprisingly chipper.

"What were those weapons that you used to cut Eyepatch? They seemed dangerous."

"You don't need to know that." Hange responded calmly.

"Then, I won't answer any more questions." she would've crossed her arms, but they were tied to the arms of her chair, so she settled for just looking away and ignoring the soldiers.

"Are you aware of the situation you're in?" Hange asked, genuinely unsure "You are deep underground, if you attempt to use your titan form, your abilities will be so restricted that a single soldier would be enough to put you down!"

"Are **you** aware of the situation **you're** in? I thought you were smart, since you made those weapons, but apparently not." Annie mocked the woman before deciding to get serious, "Don't think that you're in charge here, since you came into the room, I've held your fates in my hands."

It was at this moment that the eyes of all those within the room widened in a moment of panic, with the exception of Levi who merely looked more irritated. "Erwin, what kind of shit is she spouting?"

Erwin offered no response, evidently realising the reality of their situation.

"You thought that you would be able to threaten me by stating that you could kill me, then I offer the same. Even if I turn into a titan and end up being killed, once I shift, this entire room and everyone in it would be crushed instantly. And you still won't get any information, and all of my secrets would be safe. All of it, simply through me biting my lips." Annie responded with a smirk, rather enjoying being in the position of power.

 _"She's right, even with her being restrained, capturing her would prove near to impossible without Eren, and he needs to fully recover his strength after yesterday's fight. If she were to attempt anything, our only option would be to kill her, and we'd be no better off than we are now. No, we'd be even worse off as we would lose Commander Erwin, Captain Levi and Section Commander Hange. She has total control over the information exchange!"_ Armin began to worry internally.

"Hange, tell her." Erwin instructed her, "We need the information she possesses."

"Are you sure?" Hange asked, to which Erwin just nodded his head slightly. So, with a sigh, Hange began to explain, "Rabbit's wing was able to fire off projectiles that seemed to break down into liquid after they've been fired. So, I had the areas where her projectiles landed examined. We found liquid traces of them, so I collected the residues, distilled them and had Levi's blades coated with them."

"So you turned her own projectiles into the weapon that ended up causing her deep injuries?" Annie asked before bursting out in laughter, "Oh my! That's brilliant! She is not gonna be happy about that!"

"My turn now. You seem to have a connection with Kaneki Ken or Eyepatch, so do you know what those tentacles are? Or what he is at all?" Hange asked, trying to restrain herself from getting too excited.

"He's a monster." Annie spoke in a mock-spooky voice, irritating most people in the room.

"Be serious about this!" Nile snapped at her

"Shut up! Who said I wasn't serious?" Annie spat at the man.

"What was that?!" Nile began to roll up his sleeve, ready to hit her.

"Honestly, I'd say calling him a monster would be an apt description. Don't you agree, Captain Levi?"

"Yeah, he is a monster." Levi agreed with the girls conclusions.

"You saw it yourself, his incredible speed and strength, his skin which blades and bullets could not pierce, his regeneration that would allow any injuries to heal immediately. And to top it off, he has his four 'kagune' as he calls them, effectively functioning as four extra limbs. If you don't think he's a monster, what else would you call him?"

"A threat." Nile answered her question concisely.

"Does it really matter what he is anyway?! He has abilities that made him able to compete with Captain Levi! If you don't think he's an asset, you're an idiot!"

"Of course it matters! What if he were some kind of creature who feeds on people?!" Nile protested.

"If that were the case, what would you do, Commander Erwin?" Annie spoke to the man who had been surprisingly quiet.

"If he were an asset to our cause, then I would make use of him." Erwin admitted confidently, giving Annie a huge sense of relief.

"What are you saying, Erwin?!" Nile did not share his sentiments, "If something like that were to exist, it should be put down at once!"

"If it takes monsters for us to regain our freedom, then I welcome it."

"And once these monsters turn their eyes towards us? One of these monsters would equal an army of our own, there's no way that we would be able to take them on if you allow them to grow!" Nile argued, strongly against the idea of allowing Anteiku to grow.

"Nile, shut up." Levi calmly interrupted.

"Tch, fine! Create your little 'monster army' and watch as they turn on you and they wipe us out!" Nile gave up and left the room.

"Now then, our time's almost up and we've got to go to the assembly to discuss how your capture mission progressed, so I'm going get to the point. Where do your allegiances lie? With Anteiku or the titan shifters?" Erwin's voice was serious. For some reason, she felt as though she had to answer this question seriously.

"Anteiku is where I belong, I no longer hold a position within the ranks of the opposition." Annie admitted, her face showing no signs of her screwing around.

"I see, for now, that is enough." Erwin decided as he began to leave the room, Levi and Hange following immediately afterwards. However, Armin, who had been almost silent as he observed the conversation, quickly went up to Annie and began to whisper.

"Since you let yourself get captured, you probably have an escape in mind, so I won't have another opportunity to ask you this. Annie, when we were having our gear inspected, you tried to discourage me from sharing my thoughts on who Rabbit was, why did you do that?"

"Why do you think? I had no choice, if I didn't discourage you, you would've given that information to the military, who would target my friends." Annie explained.

"So you really are allied with Anteiku? If that is the case, who is Rabbit?" Armin asked her, his eyes wide as he observed her.

"Why are you asking me? You already know the answer, and you promised her that you would not share her identity with anyone." Annie said matter-of-factly, causing Armin's face to relax.

"Good. Sorry, Annie, but I had to confirm whether how deep your connection with Anteiku was."

"You were testing me?"

"Yeah, sorry. But now I know for sure, you are not connected with Anteiku, you're a full member."

"Armin, you're a lot sneakier than you appear, aren't you?" Annie complimented Armin with a grin, which he returned.

"Of course, I'm not able to turn into a titan like Eren, nor am I all that skilled with ODM gear like Mikasa, so I use my head to fight."

"Since you know I'm going to escape, how do you think I'm going to do so?" Annie asked, deciding to test Armin.

"My guess, Kaneki's coming here and will break you out, since he's the one who told you to do this. Am I right?"

"I guess we'll have to wait and see, won't we?"

"You know something, I like how you're more open now. Well, it was nice seeing you again, Annie. See you later." Armin waved as he rushed out of the cell to catch up with his superior officers.

"'It was nice seeing you'? Yesterday, he helped organise a military attack on me, now he's all friendly? Weirdo." Annie spoke to herself, enjoying her own thoughts.

* * *

"So the Military Police has her?" Kaneki asked the cowering Military Police officer, his kakugan activated, staring deep into the petrified man's soul.

"Y-Y-Yes, she's being h-held underground there!" the man's arm was shaking rapidly as he pointed towards a small Military Police base.

"I see. Since the Survey Corps were unable to capture Annie without causing major damage, the Military Police were given authority over her imprisonment. That makes things much easier. I had thought that I would need to deal with the Survey Corps, but evidently it's just the incompetent Military Police." Kaneki mused aloud before kicking the man before him in the face, knocking him out cold. "It would probably be best to go once it's a bit darker… I'll go at sunset, Annie'll get pissed if I leave her there too long."

The white haired ghoul quickly took to the rooftops as he headed towards his target, trying to figure out the best approach.

* * *

"Now seems like a good time," Kaneki observed, the sky had been dyed a deep orange as the sun began to set, "They'll be changing to the night shift soon, I can use the chance to sneak in."

Using his kagune, he threw himself at the building, where he crashed into it's wall near to a window. Keeping his face close to the wall of the building, he listened for any enemies on the other side. "One, two, three, huh?"

Smashing through a window, the ghoul landed in the room, quickly incapacitating the three guards using his kagune. Equipping one of their jackets to blend in, he left the room and headed downstairs towards the underground area.

Any member of the Military Police he passed once he entered the long dark corridor seemed completely uninterested in him, choosing to either ignore him or assume that he's one of the members of the night shift. However, as he reached the entrance to the restricted area, where Annie was being held, a pair of Military Police officers forbade him access. They were strange, a little older than the usual MP's. But, what was most suspicious, was that they appeared to be taking their job seriously.

Taking a look at their uniform, above their insignia were the words "First Division Interior Squad". For some reason, he felt that something was wrong, he had to get to Annie now!

Jumping towards the two soldiers, he smashed their heads into the walls and rushed forward down the underground tunnel. Coming from further down the tunnel, he could hear a muffled screaming, motivating him to speed up his approach. The screams grew louder as he got closer and closer, until two more MP's came into view, guarding a door, each armed with a rifle.

"Hey, you! You can't be here-!" Kaneki quickly silenced the soldier with a heavy kick to the stomach, smashing through his rifle as he did so, before turning to the other and striking him with the full force of his fist, breaking the soldier's ribs as he buried his fist deep into his abdomen. No time to hold back, he ripped the door apart with a powerful kick and took in the scene before him.

In the middle of the room, Annie was tied to a chair, unable to move in the slightest, her mouth covered by a rag that rendered her unable to speak or bite herself to unleash her titan abilities. Beside her were two men from the MP, one of them kneeling at her side, holding a small hammer. As he observed the group, something caught his attention, Annie's fingers seemed to be bruised, swollen and limp. Immediately, Kaneki made the connection between what he could see and the muffled screaming he had heard, the bastards had been torturing her.

Once he had realised this, in an act of pure fury, he unleashed his kagune and pierced straight through the first man's body with all four tentacles. Unsatisfied with allowing him to die so easily, his kagune turned and ripped the man's limbs from his torso. Unable to scream, as the kagune had ripped through his lungs, all that could be heard from the man was rasping and bubbling as blood filled the man's mouth. He then focused on the second man, combining his kagune into a single large tentacle, he ripped the man in half at the waist, causing blood to stain the walls. Once again, he decided it wasn't enough, his kagune separating into four slim tentacles that embedded themselves into the man's head, tearing it apart, leaving only a bloody pool on the ground. He then turned to his friend and tore through her restraints and silently pulled her to her feet before leaving the room.

"Kaneki, this is something that neither of us saw coming." Annie told him as she began to follow him out of the room, hoping to alleviate some of the guilt she knew he was feeling.

"Thanks, Annie." he spoke quietly as he walked along the corridor, both of them leaving a trail of bloody footprints as they walked.

"They seemed rather knowledgeable, all things considered." Annie acknowledged as she walked with Kaneki, "They knew that any drop of blood would activate my titan abilities, so they settled on breaking the bones in my fingers."

"Did they ask you anything?"

"Yeah, what I told the Survey Corps, once I told them that, they said 'this is for what you did to the wall' and began to break my fingers. Then you turned up five minutes later." Annie admitted, causing Kaneki to clench his fists in frustration.

"I'm sorry, if I had got there sooner, then-" "Then what?" Annie interrupted him, "Then I wouldn't have had to deal with that? While it's true, there is no point thinking about it."

"I see your point, but the fact remains that my decision is what caused this."

"Kaneki…" Annie stopped in her tracks and, as Kaneki turned to face her, she punched him as hard as she could. "WAKE UP, MORON!"

"Annie, what are you…?"

"I SAID 'WAKE UP, MORON'!" she reiterated, "IF YOU START SAYING SHIT LIKE THAT AGAIN, I'LL PUNCH YOU AGAIN AND AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES FOR YOU TO WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

"Annie…" Kaneki stared in awe at the girl before him, "…you're right. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. It's fine. We just have to be more careful from here on out, right?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Upon reaching the exit of the underground prison, Annie took the lead, knowing her way around the place better than Kaneki.

"It's night time now, right? So the main entrance should be safe enough for us to use?" Annie asked her friend as they walked towards the main entrance.

"It should be, maybe we can pick up a set of ODM gear for you." Kaneki said as he turned a corner into the area in front of the entrance. However, he quickly had to pull back, dragging Annie back with him as the two members of Anteiku noticed that the number of soldiers within the base had increased tenfold, and all of them were in a panicked state. Not one of them standing still for more than a second, they rushed around.

"What's going on?" Annie asked the ghoul, hoping for some insight on the situation.

"No clue. I didn't take this route to come in, so I didn't see many people."

"Then, we have to find out." she stated as she scanned the area for someone she recognised. Quickly, she noticed one of the officers who had been in charge of her unit in the Military Police, so she rushed in front of them. "Sir, I've not been told of the current situation, so my squad can't do anything."

"What?! How can you not know?! Wall Rose has been breached!"

* * *

 **This chapter's a little shorter than I would've liked, sorry.  
** **I finally answered the question about the blades, I tried to use a similar idea to the Q bullets, hope you liked it.  
The next couple of chapters will be more Touka-centred.** **  
I wasn't going to include the torture, but then I read chapter 137 yesterday and felt inspired to make it more horrible.  
Since so many people asked for it, I will try to include more kakuja Kaneki.  
I have been told that I should get a beta reader, I don't know how that system works, so if anyone could explain that to me/volunteer, it would be highly appreciated :)**


	19. The Breach

12 hours earlier…

She was bored, that much she could say for certain. They had been here for hours with nothing to do. Touka had gone with the 104th cadets by her own plan, but she hadn't expected to be put in a large room with nothing to do. The supervising soldiers had instructed them not to wear uniforms or train, their standing orders were to "Stay here for now, we'll give further instructions later on."

So, the female ghoul did just that, albeit reluctantly. _"Maybe I should've gone to warn Annie, then Kaneki would've had to deal with this instead."_ she mused with a smirk, enjoying the thought. Apparently, her sentiments were shared by the majority of the 104th. Looking around, she could see everyone just chatting idly or even sleeping on the tables.

Touka decided to listen in on some of their conversations, in the hope that they would alleviate even a fraction of the boredom she was suffering. Unfortunately, most of the conversations going on in the room were about the lunch menu, something Touka did **not** want to think about. The most interesting thing she could hear was Connie and Sasha talking about their hometowns, "They told me I was far too short to be a soldier, but I ended up a prodigy that was able to get into the top ten. I want to rub it in their faces while I'm still alive."

"My folks told me not to come back until I was a respectable woman." Sasha replied drearily as she stared out of a window.

"Perhaps I should sneak out and go visit them?" Connie thought aloud.

"Connie, if you're serious, I'm coming with you." Reiner chimed in, looking away from his chess game with Bertolt, which he was losing badly.

"Huh? Why?" Connie asked, not particularly interested in hearing the answer.

"Don't you think it's strange? They told us to stand by and wait for further instructions, we're in plain clothes and they won't even allow us to train. We're soldiers, aren't we?" Reiner complained, "Plus, what's more strange is that all our superiors are fully equipped. We're not on the front lines, what do they think they'll be fighting?"

 _"Tch, Reiner's smarter than he looks. He's probably figured out the Survey Corps' objective in sending us here."_ Touka observed.

"Probably bears." Connie reasoned nonchalantly.

"Yeah, bears." Sasha agreed "And me if lunch isn't soon."

"Yeah, no kidding. Where's the food?" Connie groaned, clutching his stomach.

"They said it won't be too long, but more to the point, guns would be enough for bears!" Reiner tried to keep control over the conversation. "Personally, I feel like sneaking out and seeing how they react."

"You could get into a lot of trouble for this, Reiner." Touka warned him.

"All I said was that I was curious. Whether we get in trouble or not is our choice." Reiner responded spitefully.

"Soooo hungry." Sasha groaned, her hunger taking over.

"I hope they give us food soon, last time I saw Sasha this hungry, she ended up hallucinating and biting me." Connie began rubbing his hand, remembering the incident that happened during training.

"Huuungry."

"Sasha, if you shut up, I'll let you have mine too." Touka offered, not wanting to see Sasha's wrath turn onto her, along with getting out of eating human "food".

Sasha's response was interesting, to say the least, she immediately rushed to Touka's side and kneeled down before her. "Hey, Sasha? Are you alright?"

"Did you mean it?" Sasha's voice was quiet, barely a whisper as she spoke to the ground.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"DID YOU MEAN IT?!" Sasha roared as she looked back up to Touka, her eyes wide open and filled with joy at the possibility of more food.

"Ummm, yes?" Touka didn't know how else to respond to the strange girl, who, upon hearing her response, began running in circles around the room yelling "More food! More food!"

"Hey, Touka, are you sure about this? We haven't had anything to eat since we got here, and you're just gonna give Sasha your lunch without even a second thought?" Connie spoke calmly, completely used to Sasha's strange antics when it came to food.

"It's fine, I've seen you doing the same, though." Touka pointed out, causing the bald boy's face to redden slightly, "You give her your own food without hesitation too, why is that, Connie?"

"Ummm, it's jus-just eerm…" Connie lost his ability to form a coherent sentence, so Sasha answered for him.

"'Cause I'm Connie's favourite!" Sasha's voice was filled with joy before suddenly getting serious, "Does that mean… Connie, are you going to give me your food too?!"

"Hell no!" Connie immediately replied, only for any resistance he might have had to disappear as he looked into Sasha's 'puppy dog eyes'. With a sigh, he relented "Fine, you can have some of mine too."

"YAAAY! More food for me! More food for me!" Sasha began to prance about the room, looking like some sort of ballerina, only she kept hitting people as she went around the room. Eventually, she tripped on somebody's leg and faceplanted onto the hardwood floor.

For some reason, Sasha stayed on the floor for a while, it was rather concerning. "Hey, Sasha? Are you alri-" "Shhhhh" Sasha silenced her concerned friend before turning back to the floor.

"Umm, guys? I hear footsteps!" she finally stated.

"Footsteps? Stop screwing around, Sasha! If you're saying that you can hear footsteps then that means that the titans have broken through Wall Rose." Reiner scolded her for messing about.

"I'm serious! I can hear them!" she defended passionately.

 _"Her instincts are usually spot on. I should check."_ Touka thought as she rested her head on the table in an attempt to verify Sasha's claim. True to Sasha's words, there were footsteps, loud ones, getting closer by the second.

"She's right." Touka declared, standing up in front of the 104th.

"Touka, you too? You need to cut back on the jokes, that's going a bit too far, don't you think?" no sooner than Reiner had finished speaking, one of their superiors appeared at the window, using their ODM gear.

"What's wrong, Nanaba?" Christa was the first to speak up.

"Is everyone still here? Good. Multiple titans inbound from the south, approximately 500m away and enclosing, fast! There's no time to equip your ODM gear, get on horseback and ride out to the nearby villages and begin the evacuation." Nanaba instructed before flying off.

"From… the south?" Connie's voice was shaky and his eyes wide in shock.

" **Has** the wall been breached?" Reiner asked Bertolt quietly, but loud enough for Touka to hear them.

 _"So they didn't know about this either? If that's the case, then who else could it have been? Ymir, Reiner and Bertolt are all here, so that leaves… Annie and Eren. But neither of them would do something like that. So who…? Fuck, I don't have time for this!"_ Touka cursed internally as she ran downstairs and onto a horse.

Quickly, the rest of the soldiers organised themselves, led by Section Commander Mike. "Once the titans reach the forest, everyone disperse! Before then, I want you in four groups! The four teams will move towards the north, south, east and west! Avoid combat whenever possible, focus on spreading information! Is anyone familiar with the area?"

Sasha raised her hand, "I-I am, sir! My village is in the northern forest, I know this area well! So does Connie!"

"My village is to the south… where the… titans are coming from. I can take you to nearby villages, but after that… please let me go to my village!" Connie's eyes remained wide open and fixed on the path ahead.

"Connie, if the titans are coming from there, you should know what that means." Touka warned him, attempting to ensure he didn't get his hopes up for his village.

"I know that already!" Connie snapped at her, "I know that… by the time I get there… it'll be hopeless… but I have to go."

"All right, then you'll guide the south team."

"Connie, I'm with you!" Reiner assured Connie.

"There'll probably be a lot of titans down there. It's definitely the most dangerous!" Connie warned.

"What are you saying? I said I'd help you sneak out, didn't I? Bertolt, you coming?"

With some hesitation, Bertolt answered, "Of course."

"I'm coming too. I need to make sure you guys don't do anything stupid." Touka declared, _"Reiner and Bertolt are probably as curious as I am about this, I'll need to keep an eye on them. If the wall has been breached I'll also need to buy some time for the soldiers."_

"No, Kirishima, you're with me on the west team." Nanaba shot down her plan decisively.

"But-" "They've reached the forest! Disperse!" Mike ordered, silencing Touka as he did so.

Following her orders, Touka began to separate from the group and head to the west, only to notice the titans, that had previously been slowly walking towards them, were running full speed.

"Tch, they'll catch up to us at this rate. Gelgar, lead the south team!" Mike ordered as he rode towards the approaching titans.

"Yes, sir!"

"He's going alone? One man against nine titans is suicide! I'll back him up!" one of the soldiers offered.

"No! We can't spare anyone else! Trust in Mike, he's the second strongest soldier in the Survey Corps after Captain Levi! He'll be fine, count on it!"

 _"The second strongest, huh? I wonder, how does he measure up?"_ Touka couldn't help but be curious, thinking about the many people she knew with incredible skill and speed. "Kaneki… hurry up, idiot."

* * *

"Hey! Kaneki! Slow down!" Annie struggled to keep pace with the ghoul who was shoving his way through the crowds of soldiers and civilians.

Suddenly stopping, Kaneki responded, "The wall has been breached, that means Reiner and Bertolt smashed through one of the walls. Touka went with them, there's no way she would have let that happen without a fight, which means that those bastards have done something to her. And you want me to slow down?!" Kaneki turned to face Annie, a look of anger and fear occupying his face.

"Kaneki, calm down. If we do anything rash, we may end up doing more harm than good." Annie put her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. "Besides, Touka's probably fine."

"What do you mean?"

"They said the breach wasn't in a gate. So she'll be fine." Instead of feeling relieved, Kaneki just looked confused. "What? Still don't get it? You're slow when you get all panicked! Question, what are the walls made of?"

"Titans, that's why it's always been the gates they break through."

"Very good, next question. The 'breach' in the wall is not at a gate, what does that mean?"

"That the wall hasn't been breached… then where did the titans come from?"

"My guess, they were turned into titans once they were past the wall."

"In which case, it's less likely that we'll have to deal with that many, Touka'll be fine. Thanks, Annie."

"No problem. But that also means that the military from back home has something to do with this, Reiner and Bertolt don't have the means to turn anyone into a titan. That means… we may have some troublesome opponents." Annie began to scowl.

"More titan shifters?" Kaneki asked, fully recovered from his little panic.

"Yeah, at most two, but one of them is definitely an annoying one to deal with. He's far stronger than any of the other titans we've dealt with."

"He sounds difficult."

"Yeah, he is. But that's not the worst part, he's also an excellent strategist. It's entirely possible that this whole thing is just him testing out the military strength of those behind the walls."

"He'd go so far for a test?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt about that, it could also be his way of calling the shifters back to him so he can launch a larger scale attack."

"If he does gather them, it would certainly be an uphill battle for us. So we need to take aggressive action now."

"Agreed, but we can't ignore the titans that have already breached the wall."

"I've got an idea, but you'll be on your own again, is that okay?" Kaneki asked hesitantly, to which Annie merely smirked as she nodded her head. "Find one of the Survey Corps groups and follow them to the location of the 'breach' and take out any titans there. I'm going to pay Erwin another visit."

"Fine by me, but do you know where he is?"

"You said Erwin had to go to a meeting in the capital, right? I don't think he's too far, just a feeling though."

"A feeling? Fine, I'll trust your instincts, but Touka won't like you being late." Annie's words sent a chill down his spine, he definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of Touka's rage.

"Y-Yeah, but it must be done."

"If you say so, rest in peace. " Annie joked as she noticed a group of Survey Corps soldiers gathering nearby, she walked towards them, "I'll see you later."

"Of course, I'll catch up as soon as I can." Kaneki said as he took to the rooftops, using them as a shortcut as he searched for Erwin.

* * *

Finding the commander of the Survey Corps took far less time than expected, within ten minutes of searching, Kaneki had found him. Equipping his mask, the one-eyed ghoul dropped down beside the commander, paying his accompanying subordinates no mind.

"Yo, Commander Erwin."

"Eyepatch?" the commander greeted the ghoul, "Unfortunately, I am rather busy, so I don't have much time to for you. So, what is it you want from me?"

"Straight to the point, huh? Well, that's fine, I guess. I'm here to do a couple of things, one of which is to warn you that it's likely that you now have more titan shifters to deal with."

"More of them? How many? How do you know this?"

"Two of them, at most. I assume you understand how dangerous our current situation is?"

Erwin appeared deep in thought for a moment before asking, "How does Anteiku plan to proceed?"

"We have two members heading towards the area where the titans have been sighted, they'll be dealing with as many titans as they can. However, we do not intend to engage with any of the titan shifters." Kaneki admitted confidently.

"I see, however we both agree that having the newcomers join together with the armoured and colossal titans who are already here would be dangerous."

"It seems so, so I'm going to give you some information, in exchange for the identities of the colossal and armoured titans, I wish for an alliance with the Survey Corps."

"An alliance? And what would that entail?"

"We would no longer attack each other and we would share information between our groups."

"I see, very well. From this point on, the Survey Corps will not view Anteiku as an enemy, but as an ally. However, I cannot promise the same of the other branches of the military."

"That's good, it would be best for both of us if they did not know of our alliance."

"Indeed, now then, the identities of the colossal and armoured titans, please."

"Of course. As you had predicted, they are members of the 104th cadet corps, their names are Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover."

"So that means they are on the front lines now, that may be problematic. They may choose to interfere when we try to seal the wall."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much, the wall hasn't been broken." Kaneki informed him casually.

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"You'll see for yourself, soon enough."

* * *

"That's impossible. You sure you didn't miss it?" Gelgar asked.

"We would've seen a breach large enough for a titan to get through?!" Nanaba responded, rather distressed.

The two Survey Corps soldiers had every reason to be worried, they had both led groups around the edge of the wall in search of the breach, only to run into each other, with not so much as a crack in the wall.

"Sir, staying out here is dangerous, we should retreat for now." Touka tried to keep her superiors from panicking too much.

"Right, there's a castle over there, we'll take refuge over there for now." Gelgar agreed, leading the groups towards the ruins of an old castle.

"I didn't know there was a castle out this far." Nanaba commented as she looked around, picking up an empty can of food, "Looks like someone was staying out here recently."

"Probably bandits." Gelgar dismissed the idea.

"Okay, we'll take turns going on watch, you recruits should get some rest, we'll be leaving two hours before dawn."

Touka dropped down in a corner and closed her eyes, trying to collect her thoughts. _"Alright, so Kaneki has gone to warn Annie that the Survey Corps may be after her, so now he and Annie are probably still too far away to help. Next, I have been watching Reiner, Bertolt and even Ymir, and none of them have been gone long enough to destroy a wall. Plus, this attack is really different from the other ones, Reiner and Bertolt always go for the gates, and have Annie lead all the titans through the hole. Wait a minute, they always go for the gates because the walls are filled with titans, right? So it's rather unlikely that there is an actual breach in the wall, which explains why we couldn't find it-"_ "Are you stupid?! Touka's thoughts were interrupted as Ymir began to burst into laughter, "Your mum's a titan?! Then, how are you so small?! C'mon, Connie! How does that even make sense?!"

"What is she laughing about?" Touka asked Christa, who was observing Ymir's outburst.

"Connie said that there was a titan in his village that looked just like his mother." Christa responded calmly before attempting to quiet Ymir down.

"A titan that looked like his mother?" Touka decided that thinking too much on it now would be pointless, _"I'll ask Annie later."_

* * *

 **I'm so sorry, I've had other matters to deal with, so I couldn't find time to write :(  
I'm not too happy with this chapter, the next one will be more exciting, I promise  
tell me what you think or would like to see later on, personally, I'm toying with the idea of adding more ghouls to the story, maybe some from the Tokyo Ghoul universe or not (Before anyone else says it, I am planning on putting some more kakuja Kaneki later on, be patient)  
**


	20. The Tower

It was strange, when Touka pictured sleeping in a castle, the image that came to her mind was of a beautiful princess sleeping at the top of a tower. Wearing a lovely dress as she rested in a large, comfortable bed as she awaited her prince to come and rescue her, something she had read in many stories when she was little. However, the reality was very different, instead of a large, comfy bed, she had to sleep on the cold, hard stones that made up the floor. The most distressing difference, however, was the fact that it was likely not a prince that would come to her, but a group of titans, looking for something to eat.

 _"_ _Worrying about them won't help."_ she reminded herself as she closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep before they rode out in the morning.

Her sight cut off, her other senses heightened to compensate, she could practically smell everyone in the tower. Beside her was Christa, curled up in a corner, in a nearby room were Bertolt and Connie with three of their four superiors, the last of them being on watch at the top of the tower, and lastly, Ymir and Reiner were in another room, kicking up a lot of dust as they looked through some boxes for something to eat.

None of these things particularly bothered her, but what she could hear filled her with a sense of dread. Immediately, she stood up and rushed to a window in attempt to disprove what she heard.

The sky was pitch black, covered in dark clouds that made it was impossible to see long distances, even for a ghoul like Touka. However the moon shone a bright light over the castle and it wasn't hard to make out the many large figures approaching the tower slowly.

 _"_ _I thought that they couldn't move without direct sunlight, why can they move?!"_ as if on cue one of her superiors called down to everybody, "EVERYBODY UP! GET TO THE TOP OF THE TOWER! NOW!"

Following her orders, everybody rushed to the top of the tower as quickly as they could, where they gained a perfect vantage point, from which they could clearly see the horde of titans heading towards them.

"Why?! Why can they move?! It's been hours since sundown!" Gelgar yelled as he drew his blades and prepared for battle, "Because of you bastards… I can't even get a drink!"

"Hey, what's that?!" Connie exclaimed pointing at one of the titans, "Is that a titan? Or… doesn't it look like some kind of animal?"

"What the fuck is that?!" Touka cursed, observing the titan. It was certainly unique, about 17m in height, it towered over everything. Its body was rather muscular, covered with a layer of dark brown fur. Looking towards Reiner and Bertolt, she was able to figure out the answer from their shock-filled faces, _"That thing's another shifter, huh? Fucking hell!"_

"Wait, is that thing heading towards the wall?"

"Why is it going there?" Touka queried, attempting to figure out the shifter's intentions, _"If he joined with Reiner and Bertolt, this tower would fall almost immediately, so why?"_

"Recruits stay back, we're switching to ODM gear." Nanaba said as she drew her blades and led the charge against the titans. Within seconds, the closest titan was cut down, a large one, approximately 13m, falling to the ground, crushing several smaller titans as it did so.

A small titan, probably only a 2m class, began to crawl from beneath the other titan, only for one of the soldiers to land on its head and swiftly execute it.

"Damn it! I was too late!" she cursed as she looked to the entrance to the tower, the wooden door had clearly been forcefully opened by a titan. As soon as she realised this, she rushed to the top of the tower to warn the others, "Titans have entered the tower, get downstairs and set up a barricade! Retreat up here only as a last resort. Keep in mind, we may not come to save you, or even be alive ourselves."

"Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

Reiner was the one who assumed leadership, quickly dictating tasks "I'll see how far they've gotten, find something to use as a barricade!" he instructed as he rushed ahead of everyone.

"Hey, Reiner! Damn it, why does he always have to be the first to run into danger?" Connie asked as he tried to catch up with Reiner.

"It's a bad habit of his!" Bertolt answered as he sped up.

"You heard him, we need stuff for a barricade!" Ymir yelled as she began grabbing planks of wood off of the ground.

"What about that?" Christa pointed out something hidden in the corner of the room, a cannon.

"Do we have any way of firing it?" Touka looked through the nearest boxes to the cannon, only to find them empty, "Of course not, it's never that easy, is it?"

"Stop complaining and help us move this thing." Ymir scolded her, struggling to move the cannon.

"DOWN HERE! BRING SOMETHING! ANYTHING!" Reiner's voice echoed from downstairs.

 _"_ _I guess the titans have gotten pretty close, huh?"_ Touka thought to herself before grabbing a pitchfork and turning to Bertolt, "You go ahead and help Reiner buy some time, we'll try hurling this at them!" Touka instructed as she shoved the 'weapon' into Bertolt's hands.

"R-Right!" Bertolt accepted his role quickly and ran to help Reiner.

Moving the cannon to the staircase didn't take too long, within a minute, they had reached the top of the stairs, looking down as Reiner and Bertolt struggled against a 2m titan that was trying to force its way through.

"Get moving, you two!" Touka warned before kicking the back of the cannon, pushing it down the stairs, barely allowing Reiner and Bertolt time to dodge out of the way as the cannon sped past them.

"It's not getting up from that, not at its size, at least." Connie concluded, looking down at the titan that was struggling against the weight of the cannon, to no avail, "What do we do? I've got this knife, should I go for its nape?"

"Don't. If it gets its hands on you, you're dead." Reiner advised, keeping a cautious eye on the downed titan.

"We should get back upstairs." Christa recommended, as she followed her own advice.

"Yeah, it's only a matter of time until the next one gets in." Ymir agreed and, true to her words, a second titan entered the area.

Connie was closest to the door so, naturally, the titan targeted him first, lunging at him with its jaw opened wide, ready to feed. However, before the titan reached Connie, Reiner forced its face away from his comrade, using all of his strength, only for the titan to rotate its jaw and bury its teeth into Reiner's arm.

Before she could even think, Touka found herself jumping towards the titan. Within a couple of seconds, Touka darted around the titan and cut out its nape using her bare hands. None of her comrades had been able to clearly follow Touka's motions with their eyes, the only thing they saw clearly was the end result, the titan that had its teeth embedded in Reiner's arm was dead, and Touka's hands were covered in steaming blood.

"You piss me off." Touka's voice was cold as she spoke to the titan she had just killed, she had barely managed to refrain from activating her kakugan.

"Did you just…?" Connie began to question her.

"No time to explain, get stuff for a barricade!" Touka instructed, quickly taking a look through the ruins of the door that the titans had forced their way through. On their way up were about three 2m class titans. Deciding to buy the others some time, Touka informed the others calmly, "I'll be back up in a bit."

"Wait! Touka!" Connie called out to his friend, to yield no results as Touka was already making her way down to the titans. This time, she was in full control of herself, and she would spare no mercy for these titans.

Connie attempted to follow after her, only to find himself held back by Reiner, whose only usable arm wrapped around Connie's chest. "Hey! Reiner! Let me go!"

"We can't risk losing you," Reiner began, "Touka is strong, that is obvious, and she is evidently able to deal with titans without a weapon. If you go down there with her, what do you expect to be able to do?!"

"I don't know, but we shouldn't just let her go down there!" Connie defended.

"I know that! But this was her choice! We can't risk losing anyone else! Now, come and help set up a barricade!" Reiner ordered, to which the bald boy could only nod and reluctantly help them out.

Once the barricade was complete, Christa began to tend to the wound on Reiner's arm. Using a bottle of alcohol she found as an antiseptic, a couple of sticks as a splint and some cloth ripped from her skirt as a bandage she made a makeshift sling for his arm.

Hoping to see Christa rip off some more of her skirt, Ymir stated "Actually, Christa, I got scratched up too."

Unfortunately, Connie shut down her plan with an off-handed comment, "Just spit on it, it's not that bad." This statement earned him a deadly glare from Ymir that he ignored and turned to his injured comrade. "Hey, Reiner, sorry about this. It seems like I'm always being saved by you guys, even Annie had to stick her neck out for me. I have to pay you guys back for that."

"Don't worry about it. We're soldiers, it's what we do." Reiner assured him, not looking directly at Connie, who let out a slightly forced chuckle.

"Hehehe, soldiers, huh? I don't know if I could risk my life like that, I'm not that brave. Hey Bertolt, has Reiner always been like this?"

"No. Reiner used to be… a warrior. He's different now." Bertolt answered, keeping a close eye on Reiner.

"A warrior? What do you mean by that?" Reiner appeared confused, whereas Bertolt looked more disappointed than anything.

"We should probably gather up some stuff that seems usable. That way we can die without regrets. Although, our lives mostly depend on how skilled our officers are…" Ymir began as she looked out onto the battlefield below them, "Woah, as expected of the Survey Corps' elites, other soldiers don't even compare to them."

On the ground below, titans were falling, one after another, their napes slashed. The four officers of the Survey Corps worked together to efficiently take care of the many approaching titans, barely speaking a word to each other. Their hopes of surviving the night rising with each kill, until a strange sound drew their attention. It was a sound that none of them had ever heard before, similar to the sound of someone whistling, only with a declining pitch. The whistling sound was followed by a loud crash, close to the base of the tower, in the stables. Looking down, the officers saw their horses in pieces and a large rock where the stable used to be.

Once again, the whistling began, filling the officers with a sense of dread as they frantically scanned their surroundings. Once again, the whistling was followed by a loud crash, but this time it was the top of the tower that was struck, but this time, it was the top of the tower that was struck, killing two officers as a hole was blown through the wall.

The crash made all the recruits climb to the top of the tower, where they were greeted by the sight of their two surviving officers, laying down the bodies of their comrades. "It's hopeless. They both died instantly." Gelgar informed the recruits, his face distraught as he recalled what he saw, "Be careful, a giant boulder came flying from towards the wall, that's what got them."

"What?!" Christa questioned in disbelief.

"From the wall?" Ymir kept her eyes locked on the skies towards the wall, searching for any potential flying boulders.

"It was that thing! There was only one titan heading towards the wall! It was him, that beast titan that did…" Connie trailed off as he looked towards the wall, only for his eyes to widen in fear as he screamed, "Multiple titans approaching! More than twice the number we just dealt with!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Gelgar complained.

"This timing, it's like the titans are conducting some sort of strategic operation. That, or they've been toying with us from us from the very start." Nanaba observed, preparing her blades to fight again as she jumped from the tower, Gelgar following after her.

* * *

"That was harder than it should have been." Touka mused aloud, looking down at her clothes that were drenched in rapidly evaporating titan blood.

The bodies of three titans laying at her feet, each one mutilated beyond recognition, the ghoul began to climb back up the steps of the tower. With each step she ascended, she could hear a strange sound from above her more clearly, a sort of mumbling sound, that shifted into sobbing, followed by a loud wailing "WHO THE HELL DRANK THE WHOLE BOTTLE?!"

After that, no further noise came from above, considerably worrying Touka and causing her to accelerate her ascent. Quickly coming across where they faced the first titans that breached the tower, she noticed a large hole in the wall and a bloody bottle on the ground. Her worries growing, she ran up the stairs to find a barricaded door.

"I don't have time for this!" Touka exclaimed as she began kicking at the door, breaking it apart, piece by piece. "Wait, what if a titan gets into the tower…? Whatever! It's not like that barricade could've stopped any titans!"

Reaching the top of the tower, Touka noticed the bodies of two officers on the ground and the rest of the 104th cadets were looking over the edge of the tower at something that seemed to be making them very uncomfortable.

As she approached, she remained unnoticed by her friends, until she was literally right beside them, looking down at the same sight below the tower, the sight of her superior officers, being ripped apart and eaten by titans as they screamed.

Chista's reaction to this was to pick up a rock and throw it down at the titans, while Ymir attempted to drag her as far from the edge as she could. Reiner and Bertolt watched the horrific scene before them with discomfort written all over their faces while Connie averted his eyes as he pounded his fist against the castle wall.

"Isn't there anything we can do?! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Connie screamed, still pounding his fist against the wall until he noticed Touka's presence, "Touka?"

Ignoring Connie, Touka kept her eyes on her superiors as they were silenced by the jaws of a titan. As the titans feasted on the bodies, Touka couldn't help but let her emotions take over. _"They gave their lives for us but with the people who are here right now, we could've easily got away, maybe even killed them all. Three titan shifters, a ghoul and four highly skilled officers of the Survey Corps against one group of titans, there's no doubt we'd win. And yet, we're stuck up here, looking down as they are devoured, and waiting for the titans to turn their attention onto us. The others won't act while there are still survivors in the tower. So they're just going to wait until their friends are eaten in front of them until they decide to act?! Fuck that!"_ Touka's thoughts ceased as she pushed her way in front of her comrades and began to speak.

"You know something? I really hate people like you, who have incredible power but refuse to use it. You get fixated on one end goal and ignore anything else that you don't deem important enough. Despite the fact that people are dying in front of you, you are still not doing anything, choosing instead to wait until all of your friends die! But I'm not like you. I won't stand by and wait. I don't care if I'm exposed. I don't care if you see me as an enemy. I will protect my friends. I will fight."

"What do you plan on doing?! There are too many down there!" Connie objected, only to be silenced as Touka began patting his head.

"Sorry, Connie. You didn't understand what I meant, did you? But there's no reason to worry, after all…" Touka pulled out her mask and activated her kagune, "I'm pretty strong myself."

She held the mask close to her face, just close enough that her kakugan was visible, while her single large wing stood proud, flickering like an open flame. With a hop, Touka stood on the edge of the wall and stared down at the titans. "Feel free to join me if you want to make yourself useful."

Putting on her mask, the ghoul jumped from the top of the tower, immediately encountering resistance as a 6m titan jumped up at her, attempting to catch her in its mouth. However, the titan found its entire jaw and nape slashed apart as a single wing passed through, not slowing the ukaku ghoul down at all.

The ghoul, eventually, came to a sudden stop as she pierced into the torso of a 10m titan. Within an instant, the body of the titan was reduced to a bloody mess as hundreds of red, crystalline shards burst out from its body, causing damage to almost every titan in the vicinity to varying effects.

Her own strength surprised her, the dark-haired ghoul had not fought all-out like this against ordinary titans before. "I guess all that training with him paid off, if I survive this, I'll make sure to thank him." Touka spoke to herself as she remembered her many fights with Kaneki.

Her mind elsewhere, she almost didn't notice the 3m titan sneaking up on her, however she was well prepared to deal with it. As the titan lunged for her, its eyes were ripped apart by red shards, leaving it blinded, allowing Touka to jump out of the titan's way and cut out its nape.

"Who's next?" she asked the large group of titans that was approaching her from all directions.

* * *

"She's Rabbit?!" Christa exclaimed.

"She's insane." Ymir calmly added on.

"I can't believe it. We were all together for three years." Connie spoke alarmedly, his eyes never leaving the view of the fight below.

"So she's a member of Anteiku, I had no idea." Reiner commented, "She should have told us of her power, like Eren."

"Maybe she couldn't tell us. Maybe she isn't exactly an ally." Bertolt added on, surprisingly calmly, given the situation.

"Tch, is that what you think?" Ymir asked, rather irritated, "Connie, give me that knife you had."

"My knife? Fine." Handing her the knife, Connie asked the girl "What do you want it for?"

"Oh, this? I'm going to fight with this." Ymir announced, surprising her comrades.

"Ymir, what are you planning?" Reiner asked, concerned about what she was about to do.

"Who knows? I'm not even sure myself. But, unfortunately, I made the mistake of listening to her." Ymir pointed down to Touka, who was jumping from titan to titan, attempting to dodge their arms and teeth, before walking up to Christa and putting her hands on the small girl's shoulders. "Christa, you've probably forgotten about this but… this is probably the end so… try to remember. The promise we made when we trained in the snowy mountains."

"Ymir…" the small girl kept her eyes locked on Ymir's as the taller girl spoke.

"I have no right to tell you how to live your life. So, this is nothing more than a hope of mine but, I want you to live a life you're proud of." Ymir began backing away from Christa before speaking again, "Remember our promise, Christa."

Ymir broke out into a sprint and ran past Christa, ignoring her cries to wait, before jumping from the tower. With a slash of her hand, and a lightning bolt, Ymir's titan body began to form around her.

* * *

"This is harder than I expected." Touka mused aloud, observing her situation as she jumped from titan to titan, taking one down whenever she saw an opening.

Unfortunately for her, it was not going as smoothly as she had hoped, whenever she jumped, she had to watch out for any titans that attempted to grab at while she couldn't dodge. The only thing she could do at such times was to activate her kagune and cut apart whatever came close. _"My stamina won't last long enough to deal with all of them!"_

No sooner than she realised this, a bright light and shockwave came from above her, drawing the attention of most of the titans. Touka was not careless enough to overlook that so, in that opening, she activated her kagune and began showering the area with her shards, killing several titans and damaging even more of them.

As she completed her first attack, the ghoul noticed a large titan approaching from behind her. Turning to face the titan, she was surprised to see another titan fall from the sky, swing around her attacker and bite out its nape.

"It's about time you got here!" Touka teased the titan, knowing who was inside.

"Shut… up." The titan responded slowly, her voice deep and breathy.

Ymir began following Touka's example and jumped from titan to titan, ripping out their napes with her claws and jaws, occasionally jumping back to the tower to keep out of reach of the titans while she waited for an opening.

The two were able to shave off the number of titans little by little, barely keeping one step ahead of the titans. However, the two of them could hardly hold out forever and soon found themselves slowing down.

It was a subtle change, at first, but it had a large effect on them. Ymir always kept just out of reach of the titans below her when she jumped onto the tower, but as her strength declined, so did her ability to jump, so a titan was able to grab a hold of her wrist, dragging her down into the horde below.

Immediately, she was set upon by a titan, embedding its teeth into her arm. Thankfully, Touka was able to assist her, quickly rushing in and cutting out the nape of the one on her arm while Ymir bit off the arm that dragged her down before jumping to the tower again.

Once again, she failed to jump high enough and her legs were caught in the hands of a 12m titan.

This time, Touka could not help her, the ghoul was busy with a group of titans that were targetting her. "Damn it! Ymir, the tower!" She warned her friend.

 _"_ _The tower? What's she talking ab…? Oh shit!"_ Ymir suddenly realised how much damage the tower had taken, withstanding attacks from so many titans had certainly taken its toll on the old building. It was in tatters, barely able to support its own weight, let alone a 7m titan as well.

Taking a glance at the top of the tower, Ymir saw Christa looking down at her, the blonde girl's eyes were wide with concern. _"Fuck…"_ Ymir thought as she let go of the tower, allowing herself to fall into the frenzy of titans.

"Ymir, hold on, I'm coming!" Touka assured her friend as she attempted to draw the titans' attention onto herself.

Using every ounce of strength in her body, Touka attacked the titans that were attempting to eat Ymir, beyond that, she eviscerated them. "Shit… I don't think I can go much longer!" Touka warned Ymir, between strained breaths.

"DON'T YOU DIE, YMIR! NOT IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!" Christa's voice echoed from the top of the tower, "DON'T PRETEND YOU'RE GOOD, YOU IDIOT! YOU WANNA GO OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY?! ARE YOU STUPID?! IT'S TOO LATE FOR YOU TO TRY AND GET INTO HEAVEN! LIVE FOR YOUR OWN SAKE! IF PROTECTING THIS TOWER'S GONNA GET YOU KILLED… THEN SMASH IT TO PIECES!"

"Heh, it's not the worst idea I've heard today." Touka admitted, "How about it, Ymir?"

"Let's… go!" Ymir launched herself towards the tower and began ripping out the walls and throwing them at the titans, while Touka put her energy into making sure the titans couldn't intervene by using her kagune to reduce their legs to ribbons.

One by one, the titans fell to the ground, creating space for further titans on top of them. Deciding that she had bought Ymir enough time, Touka attempted to make her escape, only to find herself swat aside like an insect by one of the downed titans. The titan sent her tumbling for about 20m, well out of the way of the soon-to-be falling tower.

The tower tilted until it finally began to topple over, and Ymir climbed to the top of the falling tower and grabbed her friends before launching herself as far from the wreckage as she could.

The tower collapsed with a mighty crash, creating a large dust cloud that covered the hole area. Every titan in the vicinity found themselves either crushed by the tower or buried beneath the rubble…

For a few seconds, at least.

"They're getting back up?!" Christa exclaimed, fearing another attack.

"Hey, ugly! Hurry and finish them off!" Connie yelled at Ymir, causing her to charge straight towards the disoriented titans, passing by Touka as she ran on all fours.

"Oww, my head…" Touka complained as she attempted to stand, only to fall to her knees, "Fuck… that titan hit harder than I thought." She observed, before turning to her surroundings, where she saw Ymir's titan form, her head in the hand of another titan, who slammed her into a rock with incredible force.

Within seconds, almost all of the titans were on her, biting and ripping apart her flesh, getting closer and closer to her real body. Ymir did not have the strength to resist any further, so her body was torn apart.

"Ymir… you bastards! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY FRIEND?!" Touka screamed, unleashing her kagune. Her single dark wing emerged from her back, significantly larger than before, and her wing appeared to be generating a large amount of electricity. "EAT THIS!" she screamed as her kagune released a single lightning bolt towards the titans.

The bolt managed to blast straight through many of the titans, while others, that didn't take fatal damage, stopped moving, apart from the occasional twitching. The attack had left a clear path of destruction through the titans, but Touka was unable to comprehend what she had just done, as her consciousness began to slip away.

In her last moments of consciousness, she could hear a hissing sound from afar that granted Touka a sense of comfort as her face fell into the dirt.

* * *

 **Sorry** ** **sorry**** **sorry** **sorry** **sorry** **sorry  
I haven't updated in ages, I'm so sorry :(  
** **I had some IRL issues to deal with, so I found it hard to get back to writing for a while  
I'm not sure whether this is a good chapter or not, let me know what you think  
I'll post the next chapter when I can, hope you enjoy it :)  
**


	21. Enemies

Opening her eyes, Touka was greeted by a miserable-looking sky, covered in grey clouds that stretched as far as the eye could see. A cold breeze sent shivers through her body as she sat up, a sharp pain in her side reminded that she was not fully recovered.

"You shouldn't move around much, especially after a fight like that one." A familiar voice warned Touka from above. Turning to face the voice, she was greeted by the sight of an unexpected friend giving her with a smile.

"Annie?! What are you doing here?! And what's up with your hair?!" she asked, noticing that, beneath her hood, how Annie's hair was not tied up as it normally was, instead it was resting around her shoulders.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" Annie whispered, pointing towards a large group of Survey Corps soldiers, "They don't know who I am, don't blow my cover!"

"Right, sorry." Touka began to take in her situation and quickly lowered her voice. She was on top of the wall, on a stretcher, not too far from a group of Survey Corps soldiers that were hauling supplies up the wall. "So, what are you doing here, Annie?"

"Well… let's just say some things happened and I got found out."

"What?!" the ghoul could barely keep her voice low enough not to be heard by the other soldiers.

"Wait, it gets worse, they found out Kaneki too." Annie admitted, to which Touka had to cover her own mouth with her hands to keep herself from yelling at her friend.

"MMMRRMMM!" the ghoul's muffled yelling was quiet enough not to be noticed, "Okay, I'm good now that I've got that out of my system. Wait, where is Kaneki?"

"Not anywhere near here, sorry. He said he's going to see Commander Erwin for something."

"I see, then he's probably going to get here with the rest of the Survey Corps, right?"

"Probably, I'm gonna leave the explanation of what happened after you fell asleep to her, she said she wanted to speak with you as soon as you wake up." Annie spoke, pointing towards a woman speaking to Christa, "I have a question for you, did you see any strange titans?"

"Strange titans? Do you mean shifters?" Touka asked, thinking about her recent encounters, "There was one! There was a titan, it was a big one and it was covered in fur!"

"I see, so he's here, huh?" Annie appeared deep in thought for a moment, "Alright, I'll catch you up properly later on. For now, you'll have to deal with her, have fun. Section Commander Hange, she's awake!"

"Good, I'm coming over there!" the woman responded as she began walking over to the two.

"I won't be too far if you need me." Annie assured Touka as she walked away.

"Now then, I don't believe we've met properly before, Kirishima Touka, or would you prefer Rabbit?" the woman asked, holding Touka's mask in her hand.

"I really don't care what you call me, but if you don't give that mask to me within three seconds, I will kill you." Touka threatened the woman calmly.

"You're rather rude, aren't you?" Hange observed aloud, passing Touka her mask, which the ghoul held tightly to her chest, "I assume we can speak a bit more amicably now?"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Touka apologised, bowing her head a little.

"My name is Hange Zoe, and I have a few questions for you."

"As do I. I'll start, I assume it was you lot that cleared out the rest of the titans by the tower?"

"Yes, we arrived just in time to see your last attack on the titans. After that, we moved in and dealt with the remaining titans." Hange recounted.

"What happened to the others?"

"No casualties were incurred among the 104th cadets. Now, I believe it's my turn to ask a question. What do you know of today's attack?"

"Today's attack? Nothing, I didn't know it would be taking place." Touka admitted honestly.

"So you're in the know enough to know when an attack would take place?" Hange asked, picking out key information from what Touka was saying.

"Aren't you a clever one?" Touka complimented, "I was, as was the rest of Anteiku, but now we're pretty sure that the enemy has learned where we got our info from."

"Might that info source have been Annie Leonhart?"

"Yes, it was."

"And you are aware of her current location?"

"I have a pretty good idea." Touka took a quick at Annie, who was helping move some supplies.

"Is that so? Then, what about Eyepatch? Since the incident in Stohess district, Eyepatch or Kaneki Ken has not been seen. Where do you think he is?"

"So you really did find them both out, huh? As for his location, I'm not sure, myself."

"You already knew about it? About us figuring out who Eyepatch is?"

"You could say that, yeah."

"Then, would I be right in the assumption that you know the identities of our enemies?"

"You would, but I have my reservations about telling you. After all, if you did find out, you would attempt to take them out, despite knowing next to nothing about their abilities." Touka's voice was harsh as she critiqued the military organisation.

"I can't deny that we are lacking knowledge of our enemy, however, even with your knowledge of the enemy, you have been unable to stop them. Your organisation, as far as I am aware, is very small, only three of you in total. Do you really think that the three of you are enough to deal with all the titans out there?!" Hange asked, pointing away from the wall, to the titans' territory.

"We'd have a better shot than you lot." Touka spoke confidently.

"But you'd still lose. You may have some extraordinary abilities, but you still wouldn't be able to win."

"So you're saying that we should give up all of our secrets to you?"

"I'm saying that I want us to have a positive relationship, the Survey Corps and Anteiku. One in which we don't need to constantly keep aware of each other's movements, one in which we don't see each other as enemies."

"I see. But, do you really believe that something like this can be accomplished so easily?"

"Not a chance, but unless we try we'll never know." Hange admitted the flaw in her idea, but still she persisted, "No matter how we feel on the matter, it is our best chance of dealing with our common enemy. The Survey Corps is willing to do whatever it takes to obtain our freedom."

"Is that so?"

"I have to go check on Ymir, you can go speak to your friends while you think on my offer." Hange said as she walked over to where some soldiers were examining Ymir's injuries.

"My friends, huh? I wonder if they think that we are anymore?" Touka mused aloud as she thought about the difficult conversation she was about to have.

* * *

Mikasa pulled Connie up onto the wall with little effort.

"Thanks, Mikasa."

"Any injuries?" she asked calmly.

"I'm fine, but… Reiner got his arm bit, Touka's clearly seen better days and Ymir is as you can see." Connie answered as he looked at Ymir, who was missing an arm and a leg.

"Who would've thought Ymir was a titan, too? And Touka is a member of Anteiku? What does that-?" "Sasha." Mikasa interrupted her as Touka approached the group.

"Ummmm… hi." She attempted to greet them.

"Hey." Connie was the only one of the trio who responded.

"…You seem to be doing better." Mikasa observed.

"Yeah, still nowhere near back to full strength but I can move around a bit now." Touka admitted, stretching out her arms.

"I see." Mikasa responded curtly.

"So… I imagine you have some questions." Touka spoke hesitantly.

Taking a deep breath, Connie asked her "Here goes nothing… are you on our side or not?"

"I'm on your side, that hasn't changed!" Touka insisted passionately.

"Then, I'm satisfied." Connie stated, much to the surprise of his friends.

"Connie, are you serious?!" Sasha exclaimed, still looking somewhat afraid of Touka.

"Yeah, I don't get all this complicated stuff about Anteiku and stuff but, Touka is my friend and I trust that she's telling the truth."

Touka took a glance over to where Reiner and Bertolt were before dawning a concerned look at speaking, "Thanks, Connie."

Mikasa took notice of her glance and quickly dragged Touka away, "We need to talk."

"Mikasa, wait a minute!" Touka attempted to resist, to no success.

"It's them, isn't it?" Mikasa asked once they came to a stop.

"Wait wait wait, what are you talking about?" Touka asked, thoroughly confused.

"Reiner and Bertolt, are they 'them'?" Mikasa rephrased her question so Touka could understand it.

"Before you do anything reckless, you should keep in mind the limited resources here. If you start a fight here, do you honestly think that the odds will be in your favour?" Touka warned her.

"The odds never favour us, but we still have to fight all the same. If we don't fight, we can't win." Mikasa spoke coldly as she gripped her blades.

"Wake up, you moron!" Touka snapped at Mikasa, punching her in the face, "If you do that, you'll get everyone killed in a pointless fight!"

"Pointless?! They caused the deaths of everyone I cared about!" Mikasa defended as she hit Touka back, knocking the ghoul to the floor.

"So you're going to throw away the lives of those who are left?! For the sake of revenge, you'd let your loved ones die?! Are you an idiot?!" Touka's words seemed to strike a chord in Mikasa, causing her to hesitate for a moment while Touka stood up and lunged at Mikasa again, tackling her to the ground. "I don't care about your revenge, but if you're gonna risk the lives of those precious to me, I will stop you, even if I have to beat you senseless to do so!"

"At your current level of strength, that would be impossible." Mikasa asked, making reference to the ghoul's weakened state, "But I get your point."

"Did I finally knock some sense into you?" Touka asked with a smile on her face.

"You could say that." Mikasa admitted, "But if they try anything, I'll kill them."

"If I don't do it first, that is." Touka added on, challenging the girl.

"You've been weakened far too much to keep up with me." Mikasa stated.

"Is that so? You're welcome to try me and find out." Touka challenged her again, raising her arms into a fighting stance.

Mikasa let herself smile slightly as she looked away from Touka, "Luckily for you, we don't have time for that, Hannes is here."

"Hannes?" Touka inquired, curious as to the identity of this person. Looking down the wall, she found her answer, riding towards them was a squad of soldiers, "The Garrison, huh?"

* * *

"There's no hole in the wall." Hannes declared as he struggled to climb on top of the wall, "We spent all night looking, but from Trost district to Krovla district, at least, everything's normal."-

"What did you say?!" Hange exclaimed in disbelief.

"We ran into the soldiers from Krovla and doubled back. We didn't see a single titan on the path, either." Hannes continued to shock everybody with his words.

"But, there are definitely titans behind the walls." Armin defended.

"Were you actually looking? Are you still drunk or something?" Eren accused Hannes, attempting to rationalize what Hannes was saying.

"As if I'd be drinking! Wait a minute, why are you kids here?" Hannes asked, causing Eren and Armin to visibly tense up.

"Well, if there's no hole, we don't have a choice." Hange spoke to herself before issuing her orders, "Let's go to Trost district and wait on standby. Touka, come with me."

"Understood." Touka sighed, taking a glance at Annie, who seemed rather amused by her current predicament, before following Hange.

"Maybe, there's a titan that dug a tunnel under the walls. Touka, do you think that's possible?" Hange asked the ghoul.

"I don't know. I don't know the abilities of all the titans, myself. I guess it's possible." Touka admitted.

"Is that so? Well, either way, our priority is transporting you and Ymir. There are still titans on the ground, after all."

Touka dawned a teasing grin, "Am I really that important?"

"Well, if nothing else, we still have a lot of questions for you." Hange spoke coldly, killing any enjoyment Touka was having at her expense.

Annie began following after the others until she heard a familiar voice saying something concerning to her, "Hey, Eren, we need to talk to you about something."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Five years ago, we broke through the wall and began our attack on humanity." Reiner admitted surprisingly calmly, before putting his hand on Bertolt's shoulder, "I'm the Armoured titan, and he's the Colossal titan."

As Annie listened to the conversation between the two titan shifters, her worries only escalated. Even more so when she noticed that she wasn't the only one listening, so was a certain black-haired, and very protective, girl.

 _"_ _Has he gone completely insane?! Saying that in general is bad enough, but of all people to tell, why Eren?! And doesn't he know Mikasa and I can hear him?!"_ Annie panicked internally, bringing her hand to her face in preparation for what she knew was coming.

"Huh? What are you saying?" Eren asked his friend.

"Reiner, why are you telling him?"Bertolt attempted to stop Reiner, to no avail, as Reiner continued to reveal details of their mission.

"Our goal was to wipe out all of humanity behind the walls. But now, there's no need for us to do that. Eren, if you come with us, we won't need to destroy any more walls. Understand?"

"What?! Wait up, I don't understand!" Eren refused.

"I'm telling you to come with us. I know it's sudden, but you need to come now." Reiner persisted aggressively.

"Right now?! Where are we going?" Eren inquired, still struggling with the current situation.

"I can't tell you that. But, I guess you could call it our hometown. So, what do you say, Eren? Not a bad deal, right? It means no more crises for now." Reiner offered, effectively giving Eren an ultimatum, either go with them or they will wipe out everyone behind the walls.

Eren didn't reply immediately, instead he began to think about his response, briefly taking a look back at the others. Annie quickly hid her face with her hood and turned away from him, to ensure he didn't find her out.

Evidently, she had forgotten that Mikasa was also listening, getting surprised by the sight of the girl, who looked ready to kill. Taking a glance at her hands, Annie noticed how Mikasa was gripping her blades tightly.

 _"_ _She's really holding herself back well."_ Annie complimented internally, knowing how the black-haired girl was terrible at restraining herself whenever it concerned Eren, _"What Eren does right now will decide the fate of everyone behind the walls, no, even more than that. Please don't do anything rash, Eren!"_

"You're just tired, aren't you?" Eren's words came as a shock to all those listening, "Don't you agree, Bertolt? What you've gone through has made you a little crazy."

"Y-Yeah! That's right! Reiner's just tired!" Bertolt insisted desperately.

"Besides, if you really were the Armoured titan that killed so many people, why would you be talking to me about this? Did you expect me to say 'Okay, let's go' after hearing that?"

Annie let out an audible sigh of relief, _"I guess I underestimated Eren, he_ _ **can**_ _actually think things through, once in a while."_

"Yeah… What was I thinking? Maybe I have gone crazy? I've been here too long, three years, surrounded by nothing but idiots." Reiner's words drew the attention of the rest of the soldiers, "We were just kids… we didn't know anything. If only I never knew there were people like this… I wouldn't have… become such a half-arsed piece of shit!"

Reiner pulled his sling over his head, "It's already too late now… I don't know what's right anymore. The only choice left to me is… to face the consequences of my actions and… carry out my duty as a warrior to the very end!"

Reiner ripped his bandages from his arm, revealing a large, steaming wound that healed itself within seconds. This action prompted Bertolt to yell, "Reiner! Are we doing this?! Now?! Right here?!"

"Yeah. We're settling this, right here, right now!" Reiner declared before quickly raising his arms to block the blade attempting to slash his throat. Mikasa had arrived.

Leaving one of her blades in Reiner's arm, she switched her target to Bertolt. This time, she was able to get past their defence and cut his throat.

"Eren, run!" Mikasa ordered as she knocked Bertolt to the ground and prepared to run him through.

"Run, you idiots!" Touka called out, throwing Eren backwards with one arm as she ran to Mikasa kicking her off Bertolt in an attempt to keep her out of harm's way, before quickly turning to Reiner, "Reiner! If you hurt my friends, I'll fucking kill you!"

"Just try it, you fucking monster!" Reiner snapped back at her, "Bertolt!"

As Touka jumped away from the two titan shifters, they were consumed by a single bolt of lightning, the shockwaves knocking all of the soldiers back. From the centre of the lightning, the bodies of two titans formed, the fully armoured 15m titan and the upper body of the 60m titan.

Eren quickly found himself held in the Armoured titan's hand as the titan jumped from the top of the wall, using his armoured limbs to slow himself down as he fell. Within seconds, Eren also transformed, ripping apart Reiner's hand as he did so.

The Colossal titan, quickly took the opportunity to reach out his arm and grab Ymir, who was still unconscious.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Touka yelled, feeling helpless as she watched everything unfurl around her.

"Touka, get a grip!" Annie called out, grabbing Touka as she jumped off of the wall, just in time to avoid being grabbed by the Colossal titan's hand that managed to catch one of the Survey Corps soldiers.

"Are you okay, Touka?" the blond girl asked, once they were out of harm's way.

"I don't think anything about the current situation can be described as 'okay!'" Touka groaned.

"It's even worse for me, though, you're heavy!" Annie joked, mock straining herself in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Really not the time, Annie!" Touka snapped back, quickly taking a glance to the top of the wall, where the Colossal titan threw two bodies into his mouth, "He ate them?!"

"Relax, Ymir's probably fine. Bertolt's most likely is just holding her in his mouth." Annie assured her.

"That's not much better, but fine."

"All troops, prepare for combat! We're taking down the Colossal titan! You're facing the greatest enemy to humanity! All troops, attack!" Hange's orders were immediately followed by the piercing sound of hissing gas tanks as the Survey Corps flew into action.

"Fuck! Touka, hold on!" Annie warned as she flew away from the Colossal titan.

"Wait, what are you doing? The battle's over there, you know?" Touka complained, pointing back at the battle.

"Do you remember what I told you about Bertolt's titan form?"

"Yeah, you said we wouldn't win against him for some reason."

"Because he can release superheated steam from his body that he uses as a weapon." Annie completed Touka's statement.

As if on cue, the Colossal titan was engulfed by a large cloud of steam that blew away all those who attempted to attack him.

Pulling themselves onto the top of the wall, the two non-humans rushed towards where the soldiers were gathering.

"Annie… do you think you'd be able to deal that giant bastard some damage?" Touka asked as they ran.

"Doubtful. Even if I managed to get through that steam wall while still having enough strength to fight, all he has to do is knock me off the wall to put me out of action."

"Then, go and back up Eren. He'll need all the help he can get." Touka instructed.

"And you? What'll you be doing while I fight for my life?"

"I'll try to help the others. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm nowhere near my full strength, I wouldn't be of any help to you!" Touka admitted, much to Annie's surprise.

"If you're willing to admit that, it just shows how bad it is for you. Well, just don't get yourself killed!" Annie yelled as she jumped off the wall.

"Same to you." Touka spoke under her breath as she finally reached the Survey Corps.

"We can't approach it with our ODM gear, what do we do?!" Armin asked, considerably panicked.

"What can you do? You have to wait him out." Touka answered calmly.

"Ah, so you're okay, Touka?" Hange asked her.

"Well, at the very least, I'm alive."

"It's as you said, we have to wait him out. Teams 3 and 4, flank the target and stand by, Rashad has command, team 2, stand by here, Lauda has command. Team 1 and Armin, you're with me, we'll deal with the Armoured titan. As for you, if you have any information that would help us, tell us now." Hange ordered, glaring at Touka.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any such information. If I did, I'd tell you. I don't want to die here, either."

"And can we expect Anteiku's assistance or interference in our fight? As I recall, you performed a powerful attack at Utgard Castle. That may do some damage to them." Hange theorised.

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure I could replicate that, even at full strength, let alone as weak as I am now." Touka's words caused Hange to sigh in disappointment, "But Anteiku will be joining the fight, after all, I'm not the only member here."

Perfectly timed, an explosion went off at the base of the wall and from the epicentre of the explosion rose the body of a 14m titan. The female titan had arrived.

* * *

The battle between Eren and Reiner was going as badly as it could. Every attack Eren made only resulted in himself getting damaged. Eren threw powerful punches, one after another, each time his fist made contact with Reiner's face, his hands were ripped apart, while Reiner barely flinched.

Eventually, Reiner decided to fight back, throwing a single punch at Eren's head, ripping apart the titan's skull as he was sent flying.

Of course, it wasn't only Eren who was fighting the Armoured titan, as soon as Reiner appeared to let his guard down, Mikasa was on him like a lightning bolt, slashing at his nape. Naturally, her blades were shattered upon contact with Reiner's armoured skin.

 _"_ _That did nothing! Eren's attacks don't hurt him, and my blades can't even make a dent!"_ Mikasa observed internally, quickly switching her target and attacking Reiner's leg, only for it to have the same result, _"He's not like Annie, his armour's head to toe!"_

"Eren!" Mikasa called out, waking Eren out of his trance, causing him to roar as he leapt into action. His roar alone could be considered an attack, it was deafening, but it was shortly followed by a powerful fist, colliding with Reiner's armoured face.

Once again, Reiner took no damage from Eren's attack, immediately launching a counter. An armoured fist crashed into Eren's face like a hurricane, launching him through the skies.

Eren remained on the ground for a while, as Reiner walked slowly towards him, only to stop suddenly as he noticed a large explosion near the wall and a single titan emerging from it.

 _"_ _Annie? What is she doing here?"_ Reiner wondered internally.

 _"_ _Annie… but that's impossible! She was only captured yesterday, she couldn't have escaped already!"_ Mikasa pondered on the subject for a moment, before pushing it out of her mind so she could focus on what's in front of her.

 _"_ _I can do this. I can do this."_ Annie assured herself as she walked towards Reiner slowly, _"I can beat him in normal hand-to-hand combat without even trying. I can beat him in this form, no sweat."_

It was at this point that Eren rose to his feet, his wounds finally healing. _"This feels awful."_

Eren walked towards the other two titans slowly until they were stood in a triangle, each one keeping a cautious eye on the others.

" _Now, Annie too? If she joins with Reiner, can I win? Wait, Armin said something about Annie being different now, didn't he? So, is she an enemy too?"_ Eren wondered.

 _"_ _Dealing with Eren will be easy enough. But if Annie is here as an enemy, it could be troublesome with her hardening. It would be best to deal with her first."_ Reiner prepared himself for battle.

 _"_ _Physical attacks won't be very useful, I can only harden my skin so many times. Blocking his attacks will be impossible, I need to be quick on my feet to dodge him. If I can get Eren to realise that I'm on his side, then this can be made so much easier."_ Annie planned.

The first one to move was Annie, hardening her shin before slamming into Reiner's, _"If I can take out your legs, you won't be able to do anything!"_

Her first attack was perfect, it indicated to the others which side she was on, it also indicated towards a plan to take down Reiner. Hardening her leg ensured that her attack would do considerable damage… and yet it was her who took the most damage.

Looking down at her shin, she noticed the cracks in her hardened skin, of course, Reiner suffered similar injuries too, but the damage was not as severe.

 _"_ _Fuck! That was harder than I was expecting!"_ Annie cursed, before quickly bringing her arms to her face and hardening her skin to block a powerful blow from Reiner.

Reiner's armour was strong, Annie was well aware of that, but she had let herself forget was the large difference in power between Reiner and herself. Therefore, while she was able to block his blow, the force behind it was enough to knock Annie away.

 _"_ _He's going for Annie first? Don't underestimate me!"_ Eren roared as he rushed at Reiner, quickly ducking under an armoured fist before putting Reiner into a triangle hold as he dragged the titan to the ground.

 _"_ _Wait, that's my… so he was actually paying attention."_ Annie let herself remember the many times she had trained with Eren in hand-to-hand combat.

 _"_ _I don't get any of this. Whether Annie, Touka and Kaneki are enemies or not is all too complicated for me. But I know that beating you will mean we are down one more enemy. And if your goal really is to wipe out humanity, then your plan really is full of holes."_ Eren quickly found himself thrown off of Reiner, but he quickly recovered and locked his legs around Reiner's throat, _"Your biggest mistake was this. You should've thought twice about teaching me how to fight!"_

Annie found herself on the edge of the battle, looking for a clear opening to join in the fight. _"Damnit, he's good. Even while fighting off Eren, he's keeping an eye on my location. Bastard isn't giving me any openings."_

Reiner's facial armour began to crack, causing him to get serious for a moment and grab Eren's leg and pull it away from him. However, Eren was not one to give up so easily, swiftly swinging his legs around until they gripped Reiner's torso, slamming the armoured monster to the ground. Eren moved into position for another lock, this time, Reiner could do nothing to stop him, and with a roar, Eren ripped the titan's arm off.

Eren backed away from Reiner quickly, trying to figure out his next move. Annie walked up to Eren slowly, trying to appear as non-threatening as she could. Pointing towards Reiner, then her leg, she tried to direct him on where to attack.

Appearing as if he understood her, Eren gave a nod to her before turning towards Reiner, his arms raised in a defensive stance as the Armoured titan approached. _"Go for the leg, huh? Well, if he can't move, he can't fight, I guess. I took out one arm, the leg can't be much harder."_

Suddenly, Reiner broke out into a sprint, within moments he was in front of the two titans, moving incredibly fast as he smashed his way between them. Using his one remaining hand, he grabbed Eren's arm as he ran past, suddenly turning on his heel, he threw Eren at Annie. The two titans were both knocked to the ground, while Reiner entered a running stance, clearly about to charge them again.

 _"_ _Fucking hell! With one arm?!"_ Eren struggled to get to his feet.

 _"_ _I knew it would be hard, but this is ridiculous!"_ Annie quickly recovered and prepared to dodge the attack she knew was coming.

Once again, Reiner bolted towards the two, this time Annie managed to dodge out of the way. Eren was not so lucky, taking a direct tackle from Reiner, taking considerable damage. Not stopping moving for a second, Reiner turned to face Annie and threw a punch at her,

Apparently, Annie had a similar idea, as she had already hardened her fist. No time to dodge, her fist collided with Reiner's head on, and her forearm was ripped off by the force of his attack.

 _"_ _Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"_ Annie cursed internally as she scanned her surroundings, _"We need to get somewhere where we have an advantage… Bingo!"_

Letting out a roar, she attempted to draw Eren's attention before running towards the wall, Eren following shortly after.

* * *

"They're having a harder time than I'd expected." Touka observed, looking down on the fight from above.

"But… no way!" Sasha watched in shock, kneeling at the edge of the wall, beside Touka.

"Tch, this is infuriating! I hate just standing here and watching!" Touka exclaimed, punching the ground beneath her in anger.

"What's stopping you from helping them?" Sasha asked carefully, still not quite comfortable with Touka yet.

"I used all my strength at the castle, without some flesh, I can't do anything!" Touka admitted, still frustrated.

"Flesh? You mean…?"

Touka glanced up at Sasha, her kakugan activated, her voice chilling, "Sasha, I'm not human, I am a ghoul. Ghouls need to eat humans to survive."

Sasha recoiled a little, feeling rather scared of the ghoul, before looking back down at the fight below.

"Plus there's also him to consider…" Touka trailed off, watching the Colossal titan for a while. _"His flesh is nearly all gone, he must be burning off his flesh to keep that constant steam barrier up. Oh well, at least he can't move from there and interfere."_

 _"_ _Wait a minute, he can't interfere. Then, what is he doing there?"_ Touka got a horrible feeling, _"Is he just keeping the Survey Corps occupied? No, the forces here hardly pose a threat to them. So, what is he doing there? I don't get it!"_

"Touka." Sasha interrupted the girl's thoughts, "You said that if you have some flesh then you can help, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Touka felt a little concerned by Sasha's words, mainly because she had a feeling she knew where the girl was going with it.

Sasha rolled up her arm and held it in front of Touka, "Go ahead."

"Sasha, you don't have to force yourself to do this." Touka reminded her, but Sasha remained firm.

"It's fine, you always let me have some of your food, I'd say it's time I return the favour, right?" Sasha forced a smile but was visibly shaking.

"Count me in too." Another voice surprised the two from behind.

"Connie?! What are you doing?!" Sasha complained.

"I'm helping Eren by doing this, it can't be helped. Besides, Touka, think of this as our way of saying we trust you." Connie's voice was calm as he rolled up his sleeve.

"Understood." Touka responded earnestly before grabbing Connie's arm and taking a bite out of his forearm before doing the same to Sasha. The two attempted to keep from showing any pain as the ghoul took a bite out of them.

"Thanks for the food." Touka said as she rose to her feet.

"Make sure you give them hell!" Connie smiled as he ripped the sleeves of his shirt off and began to wrap them around his and Sasha's wounds.

"Heh, I bet I was tastier than Connie, right? Ow!" Sasha attempted to smile through the pain she was feeling but it was too much for her.

"Hey, don't move too much!" Connie scolded her as he attempted to wrap up her wound.

Touka remained silent for a moment, not looking at her friends, before cracking a small smile and saying one word, "Thanks."

With that, she jumped from the top of the wall, ready to fight. Her strength fully restored, she kept her eyes locked on the armoured target below her. _"I should've killed you ages ago, but there's no time to worry about that right now. Right now, you've forced my hand, so I will fight you with all my strength. No, that's not quite right, I'm not going to fight you, I'm going to kill you!"_

Her body pierced through the air like a bullet, allowing her to reach her target in seconds. Activating her kagune, she saw that Reiner had noticed her, his arm outstretched, ready to intercept and crush her.

"Bastard! Die!" Touka yelled as her sparks began emerging from her kagune. Upon getting close to her target, she released a single blast of electricity that pierced straight through the titan's hand and his eye.

The force of her own attack pushing her backwards, Touka found herself caught by a single giant hand. Looking up, she saw that Annie was holding her in her hand. "Sorry, I missed." Touka smiled as she spoke.

 _"_ _Fucking hell! That was a lot of power!"_ Reiner backed up a little, seeing Touka's power, _"Now it's three on one, huh? This is gonna be difficult."_

Placing Touka on her shoulder, Annie ran towards Reiner, Eren following after her.

 _"_ _So you're going on the attack now? Sorry, I won't let that happen!"_ Reiner declared as he charged the trio head-on.

Annie suddenly extended her arms forward, her palms flat and her hands hardened, piercing into Reiner's body as they collided. Reiner came to a sudden stop, much to his own surprise.

 _"_ _They stopped me?! Impossible!"_ Looking more closely, he could see that directly behind Annie, Eren was pushing with all his strength. Annie's hands manage to pierce into his torso in a weaker are of armour, but they had him secured so he could not retreat, only push forward against the two titans. _"A contest of strength now?"_

However, Touka wasn't going to let him go so easily, jumping from Annie's titan form, she targeted Reiner's leg, attempting to blast it apart with another lightning strike. Once again, her kagune was enveloped in electricity until it was finally released into a single bolt that blasted a tree to pieces.

"Oh? I missed again." Touka could hear a colossal sigh from behind her, looking back, she saw that Annie's face had a look of disappointment, "Shut up! It's harder to use than it looks, okay!"

While Touka yelled at Annie, Mikasa took advantage of the opening and flew behind Reiner, slashing apart the back of his one of his knees, where there was no armour.

"Looking at it now, that was probably the smarter thing to do, rather than use a power I can barely control." Touka observed, "Either way, he's down one leg, now we have the upper hand."

His strength limited, the Armoured titan was backed into a corner, but he kept on pushing. Using every ounce of his strength, he pushed against the other titans, managing to push them back to where they had originally fallen. It was then that he stopped pushing and released an ear-splitting roar.

"What the fuck?!" Touka screamed as she covered her ears until he was done, "What was that all about?"

Looking around, Touka saw no indication of anything else happening, "What? Why did Reiner stop here? Why did he roar? Was that just out of desperation or does he have some kind of-

ANNIE! GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! NOW!" Touka yelled at the top of her lungs, her eyes locked on the top of the wall.

Annie followed the ghoul's gaze to the top of the wall, immediately understanding Touka's yelling as her eyes took in the sight of the Colossal titan. No longer was the upper body of the titan attached to the top of the wall, instead it was beginning to fall down, right on top of them.

 _"_ _I need to move now!"_ Annie realised, attempting to pull her arms from Reiner's body, to no avail, _"Fuck, come on!"_

Suddenly, her arms came loose, or rather, Touka cut them off with her kagune, releasing the female titan. _"Shit! We won't get away in time!"_

Her options limited, Annie turned her head to the girl on her shoulder, quickly opening her mouth and enclosing it around Touka in a last ditch effort to protect the girl from what was coming.

No sooner than the moment her jaw was closed did it finally hit, the Colossal titan crashed down on top of them in a tremendous explosion that reached the top of the wall and ripped through the trees.

The only one remaining unfazed through the forceful explosion was the Armoured titan, his thick skin protecting him from harm. While all the other titans were incapacitated, using his teeth, Reiner bit into Eren's nape and ripped out a large chunk of flesh before repeating the same with Annie.

As the explosion subsided, from the nape of the collapsed Colossal titan emerged Bertolt, wearing the ODM gear of the soldier he ate, Ymir's unconscious body in his arms. As the Armoured titan started to run, Bertolt latched onto his back, there he remained as they disappeared into the distance, leaving the Survey Corps thoroughly defeated.

* * *

 **Wow, a lot happened in this chapter, maybe a bit rushed?  
I wasn't sure how the titan fight would go, but it went better than I'd expected :)  
I'll post the next chapter when I can :P  
Let me know what you think of this chapter :)**

 **Now for a little rant.**  
 **A few people have been unhappy about inconsistencies with regards to the technology, e.g. the marley guns and Levi's blades, so let me address that.**  
 **While the Marley's weaponry is behind compared to the rest of the world, they still are leaps and bounds ahead of the ones behind the wall. Marley has machine guns, ships, etc while behind the wall they have single-shot cannons and muskets.**  
 **And, with regards to Levi's blades, I can't justify how they have the technology to do that, but I felt like I needed to give the humans some way of fighting ghouls. If I didn't do that, the fight between Levi and Kaneki would not have been very entertaining.**  
 **If anyone has any issues with that, I'm sorry but that's just how it is. I'm trying my best to keep everything as consistent with the two stories as I can, but I also want to make it enjoyable to read for others and fun to write for me. If you think I'm doing a bad job, you are free to try it yourself.  
And finally, kakuja Kaneki is coming soon so be patient for a little longer (probably the next chapter, if not, then the one after)  
**


	22. Power

The bodies of Annie and Eren's titans began to dissipate quickly, allowing Touka to emerge from Annie's mouth with relative ease. The first thing she noticed as she emerged was the aftermath of the battle, finding herself in the centre of an enormous crater with the two evaporating titan bodies.

"Fucking hell… they did this?!" Touka stood in awe of the sheer level of destruction, even the trees of the forest suffered as a result of the battle, either being stripped of their branches or even uprooted by the force of the explosion.

It appeared that the few members of the Survey Corps that managed to escape the explosion unscathed were gathering up the injured. Deciding to help, she started to wonder around, looking for anyone on the ground.

"Huh? Mikasa?" Touka found the girl on the edge of the battlefield, considerably beat up and unconscious.

Taking off Mikasa's ODM gear and putting it on herself, she picked the girl up and carried her to the top of the wall. As she rested Mikasa down with the rest of the injured, the ghoul began looking for her friends, quickly discovering the only ones who were conscious were Sasha and Armin.

"Guys! Are you okay?" Touka called out to her friends.

"Touka! You're okay!" Sasha burst out into tears upon seeing her friend, immediately running up to her and wrapping her arms around the ghoul, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Me too, Sasha." Touka attempted to comfort the girl, rubbing her head gently.

"Wait, how did you get up here? You didn't have that gear before." Armin pointed at the equipment at her waist.

"I borrowed Mikasa's." Touka pointed to where she had left Mikasa, with the other injured.

"Is she okay?" Armin asked, rushing to check on his friend.

"Well, I'm not a doctor but, I'd say she'll be fine." Touka stated as she struggled to get Sasha off of her so she could walk properly.

"So, what do we do now?" Sasha asked, still latched onto Touka.

"A messenger has already been sent to Trost district, Commander Erwin and the main force of the Survey Corps should be here in a while. For now, all we can do is wait and try to take care of the injured." Armin informed them.

"So that means Kaneki will probably be here soon, huh?" Touka muttered under her breath, Touka frowned a little.

"Isn't that a good thing? Kaneki's super strong too, right?" Sasha asked Touka, confused at her reaction.

"Yeah, it is, but it's just… I always feel like I'm being saved by him. I kind of, wanna prove that I can help too." Touka confessed, causing Armin to let out a small chuckle.

"Hehe, sorry. It's just that you two are so like them, it's funny. To Eren and Mikasa, I mean." Armin admitted.

"How do you mean?" Touka asked, perplexed.

"You know how Eren saved Mikasa, right?"

"Yeah, she told me while we were still in training."

"She wants to be the one to save him now, so she's always the first one to run in when he's in trouble. As for Eren, he always ends up making Mikasa clean up the messes he makes, so he's always trying to prove to her that he can be useful too. Sound familiar?" Armin asked the ghoul with a smile.

"Tch, shut up."

* * *

As she opened her eyes, Annie found herself caught in the middle of a screaming festival.

"You massacred people who did nothing wrong! You're mass murderers!" Eren screamed.

"I know that! I don't need you to tell me that!" Reiner yelled in response.

"Morning." Ymir greeted Annie, noticing she had just woken up.

"What? Where...?" Annie struggled to get her bearings.

"A forest in titan territory, don't move around too much or you'll fall and I don't think you'll like what's down there." Ymir attempted to explain the current situation to the barely conscious girl.

Taking her surroundings, Annie realised Ymir was right, she was sat on a branch of an enormous tree with Ymir and Eren, while Reiner and Bertolt looked down on them from a higher branch. Annie noticed that herself, Ymir and Eren were all missing limbs of some sort, Eren and Annie both missing most of their forearms while Ymir was missing her left hand and leg. Whereas Bertolt and Reiner appeared to not have a scratch on them, as well as being the only ones equipped with ODM gear.

"You're the ones who made this world into a living hell! Don't you see that, you fucking murderers?!" Eren continued screaming at Reiner and Bertolt.

"So what do you want these murderers to do?! Do you want us to repent?! Do you want us to apologise?! Are you seriously going to preach to a couple of cold-hearted killers that killing is wrong?! Will that satisfy you?! The Reiner and Bertolt you knew are gone! If all you want to do is cry about it, then go ahead, keep crying!" Reiner's words stunned Eren into silence.

"You're right. I was being naïve. All I can do is work." Eren's eyes appeared manic but his voice remained freakishly calm, "Work hard, to ensure you two suffer the most painful deaths possible."

Ymir let out a sigh, "That's not it, Eren. I'm begging you, shut up. I can't put my faith in you if you keep talking like a stupid little kid."

Eren was considerably pissed off by Ymir's words, "Like a what?!"

"I'm saying that there's no way I'm going along with someone worried about petty things like that."

"Huh?" Eren complained, confused and frustrated by what Ymir was saying.

Ignoring Eren, Ymir turned to Reiner, "Hey, Reiner. What was that ape?"

 _"Ape? So he really came here, huh?"_ Annie mused.

"Ape? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Huh? You don't know? Funny, considering the faces you two were pulling when that thing turned up."

"What's this ape you're talking about?"

"Haven't you heard, Eren? About the beast titan that turned up and caused this whole incident?" Annie asked, deciding to join in.

"Yeah, it was what made titans appear inside the walls. It might've been testing our military strength? You two are trying to get to it. Because if you do, you'll be able to go back to your home town, right?" Ymir added on.

"You two… tell me everything you know!" Eren ordered.

"Your interrogation skills need some work, screaming can't solve everything, it just hurts my ears." Annie stated, rubbing her ears gently.

"No kidding, but listen, Eren. If you think that everything will be settled if you take care of these two, you're dead wrong. Isn't that right, you three?" Ymir asked the three shifters who knew what she was talking about, all of them remaining silent as they averted their eyes.

"Then, who is the enemy?!"

"The enemy? If I had to say, it'd be-""Ymir!" Reiner interrupted the girl.

"Do you think this world has a future?! If you know that much about what's going on, then think about your plans. Surely you can consider coming over to our side."

"And trust you?! Fat chance! You can't trust me!"

"No, I can trust you. Your goal is to protect Christa, isn't it?" Reiner asked, observing Ymir's reactions, "That's one thing we should be able to trust each other on! This may seem like a joke to you, but can't you imagine that we both at least want to do something for Christa? Or… do you think Eren's strength is more reliable than ours?"

"What was that?!" Eren snapped at Reiner, who ignored him and continued speaking to Ymir.

"You were thinking of using Eren to escape from here. Probably because you thought you had no chance if you let us take you. To be honest, that's exactly right. And even if you did join us, we won't be able to guarantee your safety. But if we're talking about Christa, we might be able to make something work… Your tiny little life or Christa's future, it's your choice."

Ymir appeared deep in thought, until a sudden voice hijacked the conversation, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Annie sat on the edge of the branch as she spoke, "Reiner, you keep talking as if the only options are you and Eren. Between the two of you, it's obvious which would be more useful as an ally. But, I'd like to throw in my lot as well, as a member of Anteiku."

"You can shut up! I won't ask why you turned traitor on us, but, as my apology for keeping this going for so long, I'm willing to overlook it if you come back now!"

"Big talk, but you still forget, I'm now a member of Anteiku. You know of Anteiku, right? They're the ones who ripped through your titan form like paper, remember?" the petrified look on Reiner's face indicated that he remembered the horrible experience of clashing with Eyepatch. "Even with the two of us, it wasn't even enough to even slow down that monster! How do you suppose anyone would fight that thing?"

"What are you talking about?!" Eren desperately asked, sick of feeling so ignorant.

"Eren, why do you think Reiner didn't interfere in the Trost operation?" Annie asked, a grin on her face.

"The Trost operation? What's that got to do with anything?!"

"Myself and Reiner first encountered Eyepatch during that operation. Against him, even with all our strength, all we could do was run away! Isn't that right, Reiner?" Reiner remained silent as he continued to stare down at them. "You said Ymir only had two choices, her life or Christa's future. But I offer both. Join Anteiku and we will help you protect Christa and yourself."

"Anteiku? Annie, are you serious?!" Bertolt asked, panicked.

"I am. We are not large in number, nor are we military, but all of our members have extraordinary abilities. I'd say we'd be more than able to compete with you 'warriors.'"

"And yet two of the, what is it, three members of Anteiku, along with Eren, could barely stand up to me."

"So you could beat the monster that ripped your arm and leg from your body with ease, Reiner?"

Reiner hesitated for a moment, "No matter how strong he may be, alone he won't be enough. Besides, if Anteiku are not military, what would you call them?"

"My friends. My comrades. We don't fight for any noble cause or anything, we just fight for what we want."

"And that is?"

"Our friends, the people important to us. We fight to protect them, that we be allowed to live alongside them a little longer." Annie appeared resolute as she spoke.

"So you're going to forsake your father back home, and prove that you are just the same as this evil race? You know what will happen, right?" Reiner's voice was cold as he threatened Annie's family.

But Annie remained unwavering, not saying a word as she stared Reiner down.

"Very well. Have it your way and die. Ymir, make your choice." Reiner instructed.

"There's no choice to make, even with Anteiku, this world has no future." Ymir spoke calmly.

"Wise choice." Reiner complimented before turning to Annie, "As for you, if you start talking again, I'll drop you down and let the titans eat you."

 _"Well, shit. Please get here soon, you guys. If not, things could very bad for us all."_ Annie begged internally, horrified by the idea of being eaten alive by titans.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Trost district.

Sat upon the top of the wall, enjoying a pleasant midday nap was Dot Pixis, Commander of the Garrison regiment. Before long, one of his underlings turned up to wake him up, smacking him on the head as she did so.

"You'll get sick if you sleep here." She warned him as she started to pick up some of the many empty bottles by the Commander's side. "How'd you even drink this much?"

"What's the situation?" the Commander asked, pulling out another bottle and taking a sip.

"We sent troops to scout after the titans stopped appearing at our primary and secondary defence lines, but we've still barely discovered any titans."

"Hmph, if Hannes' advance party safely swept the wall…" pulling out his pocket watch, he continued, "they should be returning just about now. If they arrived now, that would mean they met the team from Krovla halfway and doubled back. But in that case, they wouldn't have encountered many titans on their way back. Which would be impossible if there really was a hole in the wall."

"It seems that may not be the case, Commander Pixis." Another voice suddenly joined the conversation.

"Ah, Erwin. I hear we caught one of our mice." Pixis greeted Erwin.

"Yes, we did catch them, but they were taken from us by the Military Police." Erwin admitted.

"I see, that is unfortunate. But still, I'm sure our friends in the centre have something to think about. Now they have to consider whether they're prepared to die together with their old-fashioned traditions."

"It seems so, just look. We've finally managed to drag the Military Police out into an area where we actually face titans."

"But still, it doesn't look like they'll end up fighting anyone." Yet another voice joined the conversation.

"As long as you behave, that is." Erwin corrected the new addition.

"And who might this one be?" Pixis asked, not recognising the cloaked person.

Pulling his hood down to reveal a head of snow white hair and a black mask covering most of his face, he introduced himself "I'm the leader of Anteiku. You can call me Eyepatch."

"Anteiku? And? What are you doing here?" Pixis asked, rather unfazed by the presence of the ghoul.

"He has valuable information regarding today's attack, so I brought him here to share that information." Erwin admitted calmly.

"Oh? Then, by all means, go ahead."

"Sure. First of all, it is unlikely that the wall has been broken through. As you all have seen, the wall is made up of titans, so breaking through anywhere other than the gates would mean releasing at least one colossal titan, and there have been no reports of such a titan, right?" Eyepatch admitted.

"That's true. But then, where did these titans come from?"

"You won't like the answer." Eyepatch warned.

"Try me." Pixis challenged the ghoul with a grin.

"Well, they were created on this side of the wall… from people." Kaneki hesitated to tell them the truth about the titans, but he proceeded to do so.

"Are you saying that the true identities of the titan are humans?" Erwin asked.

"I have no proof to show you, but this is the truth, as far as we know." Eyepatch admitted before noticing Erwin smile like a child, "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing. We will proceed under the assumption that you are telling the truth." Erwin assured the ghoul.

"However, you may also be dealing with a new enemy, a new titan shifter. I have not come across them myself but I've been told he is more dangerous than all of the other titan shifters we've come across." Eyepatch warned them of the danger Annie spoke of.

"Another shifter, huh? That could be problematic." Erwin observed.

"May I ask where you get your information?" Pixis asked politely.

"One of our members knows the ins and outs of the enemy."

"Would that person be Annie Leonhart?"

"As expected of the leader of the Survey Corps, you're very quick." Eyepatch complimented the blonde man.

"Are you aware of her current location?" Erwin asked, confused at how calmly he spoke about his comrade when she was currently their prisoner.

"I told you, didn't I? That two members of Anteiku were heading towards the location where titans were first seen. Who do you think those members were?"

"You mean that in less than a day, she broke out?" Pixis asked, struggling to believe what he was hearing.

"No, I broke her out." Eyepatch admitted.

"Hahaha! You're an interesting one, I'll give you that!" Pixis laughed as he complimented the ghoul.

"Sir! The advance party has returned!" a soldier interrupted their conversation.

* * *

"W-We found no holes or irregularities with the wall…" The returning soldier informed them as he struggled for breath, clearly exhausted from the long journey.

"I see, it would seem you were right." Pixis observed, looking at Eyepatch, who had removed his mask.

"B-But the situation has turned into an emergency! On our way to report back to Trost district, we encountered a group of Survey Corps soldiers led by Hange! There were a number of unequipped recruits from the 104th with them, and among them, there were four titans and Rabbit of Anteiku!" the soldier revealed, much to the surprise of all those who were listening.

"There were still four titans out there!? Rabbit too?! Who were they!?" Jean yelled at the soldier.

"Wait, Jean!" Erwin instructed before turning to the soldier, "Once they were discovered, what happened?"

"The Survey Corps and Anteiku were forced to cooperate as they fought against the Colossal and Armoured titans! By the time we joined the battle, it was already over! Now the enemy has captured Eren Yeager as well as two other titan shifters!"

"They got them?! What about To-Rabbit?!" Eyepatch lifted the soldier up to his face.

"Put him down." Erwin instructed calmly, "We're moving out! Get everything on top of the wall, we'll ride to their location from there!"

Following his orders, the soldiers began to disperse, apart from Erwin, Jean and Kaneki.

"Now then, I assume that one of the shifters they captured was Annie Leonhart?" Erwin asked Kaneki.

"That is most likely." The ghoul responded reluctantly.

"Wait, Annie?! She was only captured yesterday!" Jean exclaimed.

"The fourth titan, who is it and why did you not tell me of them?" Erwin interrogated the ghoul.

"Her name is Ymir, she is not an enemy. She stole the power of the titans from one of them five years ago."

"Stole it? How?"

"I will explain that once we have the other shifters secured." Kaneki spoke coldly, clearly eager to get moving.

"Very well. Jean, keep an eye on him. If he does anything strange, let me know." Erwin instructed before heading off to check on the other soldiers.

* * *

The two young soldiers were sat on the back of a carriage, waiting for the go ahead to start moving along the wall.

"Erm… so, it's been a while, huh?" Kaneki attempted to converse with Jean, who just stared at him with a sour look on his face.

Taking a deep breath, Jean began to speak, "How long did you know? That Reiner and Bertolt were our enemies?"

"I knew there was something different about them from the start, I didn't find out just what it was until the Trost operation… when we fought against Reiner and Annie."

"We? So Touka was there too, huh? I guess that's to be expected. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to involve anyone else until we knew how to deal with them." Kaneki admitted.

"Selfish bastard. Well, you are the kind of guy who tries to do everything by yourself." Jean sighed.

"Sorry." Kaneki bowed his head a little.

"Damn right you should be sorry! You need to learn to rely on others more! I may not be the best there is, but I still think I'd be of some help, you know?" Jean scolded the white haired boy.

"I know! It's just…"

"Just what?! It's just you being a selfish bastard who can't trust in his friends! I swear, I'm not gonna forgive you for this, not until you learn to rely on others a bit more!" Jean yelled at Kaneki, standing up and turning his back on the ghoul.

"Yeah, I guess that's fai- wait, what?" Jean's words finally set in into Kaneki's head, causing him to stand and turn Jean to face him, revealing a grin on the soldier's face.

"I'm on your side, Kaneki. With everything you've done for me, do you really think I'm gonna hate you for this?" Jean asked, a huge grin on his face.

"Thanks, Jean." Kaneki thanked his friend, feeling relieved.

"Oh, we've been given the go ahead. Let's go!"

* * *

"They're here." Mikasa pointed out.

"They're even riding their horses up here." Armin observed, "Christa, I still think it'd be best if you stayed here, but…"

"I told you over and over, that's not happening. I refuse to just sit here and wait after Ymir was kidnapped, you two should understand how I feel." Christa remained firm as she insisted she come.

"She's right, Armin. We all have more than enough reasons to go after them. Personally, I still can't believe it, no, I won't believe that Reiner and Bertolt are our enemies until I hear it straight from their mouths!" Connie added on.

Armin began to scan over the arriving soldiers, finding himself surprised by the people he saw. "Commander Erwin, the Military Police… Kaneki too?"

"Hey, Armin. How're you holding up?" Kaneki greeted his friend.

"Well, Reiner and Bertolt took Eren, Annie and Ymir away… so, I could be better." Armin admitted, giving Kaneki a sad smile.

"Don't worry about it, we'll get them back, I promise." Kaneki assured him, placing his hand on the blonde boy's shoulder.

"Yeah, but I think there's someone else who needs you to comfort them rather than me." Armin hinted, gesturing towards a certain girl who was sitting on the edge of the wall.

"Thanks." The ghoul hybrid waved as he walked towards the younger ghoul.

"Hey." Kaneki greeted Touka as he took a seat next to her.

Touka offered no verbal response, instead she leaned against Kaneki, taking comfort in his presence. Kaneki returned her greeting in kind by wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her into him more, eventually resulting in Touka resting her head in Kaneki's lap as he gently stroked her head, letting his fingers run through her hair.

"We'll get them back." Kaneki assured her.

"I know." Touka acknowledged, still not looking at him.

"It looks like you've had quite a fight on your hands." Kaneki observed, seeing the tremendous damage done to the area.

"Yeah, it seems so."

"How're you doing?"

"I'm fine. Annie protected me."

"I see, then it's our turn to go and help her."

"Yeah, you're right." Touka let herself smile as Kaneki comforted her.

Kaneki leaned over a little more and put his lips to Touka's cheek in a quick kiss. Touka shifted a little, until her face was looking up at Kaneki.

"You missed." She stated, wrapping her arms around Kaneki's neck as she pulled him into a kiss.

"Hey, lovebirds! We're moving out, so put your clothes back on!" Jean's voice interrupted the ghouls, causing them to swiftly separate, considerably red-faced.

"Once we get back?" "Once we get back." The ghouls spoke quickly, considerably embarrassed.

* * *

 _"Just a little longer, about ten minutes and I'll be healed up."_ Annie thought to herself, looking down at her forearms that were beginning to form. _"If I can heal normally for the next ten minutes, then I can speed up my healing and be ready to transform into a titan almost instantly."_

Looking at the horizon, it looked like there was only an hour left until sundown. Time was running out, soon Reiner and Bertolt would execute their plan. If either of them transformed, Annie wouldn't be able to take them on in head-on combat.

"I'll need to speed up my healing without them noticing, then I can transform and take Eren and maybe Ymir back." Annie planned her escape, looking down at the horde of titans forming beneath them, _"It'll be difficult for me to escape this many titans, but I don't have much of a choice."_

However, her planning was cut short as Reiner and Bertolt jumped onto their branch, clearly in a hurry.

"Huh? Reiner, what's up? It's not night yet." Eren pointed out.

"It doesn't matter, we're heading out now. Eren, don't be stupid and put up a fight." Reiner instructed.

"Hey, no need to act so tough. Look at the state I'm in, there's no way I can fight back." Eren waved his hands to appear non-resistant, before punching Reiner in the face with his half-formed forearm. "Die! Die! Die!"

Reiner quickly knocked Eren off of him and put Eren in a stranglehold, while Eren kept screaming "I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!"

 _"If they're so eager to go now then, the Survey Corps must be near. So, I should kick up a fuss and stall these two to give them time to catch u-"_ Annie's thoughts were interrupted as she felt something heavy hit her on the back of the neck, knocking her out.

As her consciousness faded, she could hear Ymir speaking, "Wow, I didn't think you had it in you, Bertolt."

"Me neither."

* * *

Riding towards the forest, the combined forces of the Garrison, the Military Police, the Survey Corps and Anteiku came across a horde of titans, seemingly waiting for them at the edge of the forest.

"Kaneki, please tell me you're at full strength." Jean requested, not wanting to have to deal with the titans before him.

"Yeah, I am. However, fighting these guys would be too much for me." Kaneki admitted.

"At the very least, cut down all the ones that go after me, would you?" Jean joked.

"I've got your back, but don't get careless." The ghoul warned as a bright light emerged from the forest. "Well, it looks like we've got at least one titan shifter here."

"Then we're not too late." Touka stated, feeling a little relieved.

"ALL TROOPS DEPLOY! FIND EREN AND SECURE HIM! WE BELIEVE THE ENEMY HAS ALREADY TRANSFORMED! WE ARE NOT HERE TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY! DON'T FORGET, GETTING EREN BACK IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!" Erwin yelled orders to the troops following him.

Taking to the trees, the soldiers searched the forest, looking for any hint of Eren's location. They were able to locate one of the titan shifters rather quickly, as a loud roar led them to a familiar 7m titan in the trees.

"It's Ymir! She's one of the ones they took! This is her titan form!" Connie announced to ensure nobody attacked her, "Ymir! Where's Eren?! What about Annie?! And Reiner and Bertolt… did you get away from them?!"

"Ymir, where did they go?!" Jean asked, only to receive no response or acknowledgement, as Ymir simply glanced between each of the soldiers that approached.

"Say something, ugly! We're in a hurry!" Connie started kicking the back of Ymir's head, frustrated by her lack of cooperation.

"Ymir, are you looking out for Reiner and Bertolt? Why are you looking at each of us individually?" Armin asked, as his mind raced with possibilities.

"Ymir!" Christa's voice drew the attention of the titan, "Thank goodness, you're alright!"

Within an instant, Ymir launched herself towards the girl and took her into her mouth. Swinging through the trees at an incredible speed, the titan started putting distance between herself and the soldiers.

"She just ate Christa?!" Connie exclaimed.

"Don't just stand there! Follow her!" Jean berated as he rushed after the titan.

"She's quick! She's getting away!"

"This stuff is in the way!" Kaneki roared as he ripped his ODM gear from his body and unleashed his kagune, "Stay out of the way, you guys!"

Using his kagune to propel himself, the ghoul flew through the air, far quicker than any of those using ODM gear.

"Seriously?" Jean found himself in shock, seeing Kaneki's full speed and kagune.

 _"Of course he's here!"_ Ymir panicked and upped her pace, not that it mattered, Kaneki was already gaining on her at a frightening speed.

"Reiner, she's here." Bertolt informed his friend, who proceeded to slash his hand and transform into a titan. Once Ymir and Bertolt, carrying Christa, Annie and Eren, managed to get on Reiner's back, the titan ran out if the forest at full speed.

Stopping at the edge of the forest, Kaneki forced himself to wait until the horses caught up with him, _"I won't be able to catch up on flat ground!"_

"ALL TEAMS! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'VE GOT TITANS ON YOUR TAIL! FOLLOW ME!" Erwin's orders were incredibly loud, reaching all troops that were still alive.

"They're not going that fast, we can still catch up!" Jean called out.

"If it got rid of the hard skin around its joints, it could move faster. Since it hasn't, it might not be able to run that far." Armin theorised.

"I guess he's learned from the fight at the wall." Touka commented as she took a glance at Mikasa, who looked ready to kill everything in sight.

"But that means that, when we do catch up with him, there won't be much we can do."

"Do you forget who is with you? Both of us can break through that armour, you just have to help us get close!" Touka pointed to herself and Kaneki, hoping to reduce Armin's worries.

"I won't hesitate this time, I'll kill them both! If Ymir intervenes, she's dead too!" Mikasa's voice was cold and dripping with bloodlust.

"Just focus on getting Eren back, for now. You can leave when that's done." Kaneki attempted to calm the girl down.

"You say that like you're staying here. What's up?" Jean asked,

"Of course, they have Annie too, I'm staying until I've got her too."

"No kidding, **we** have to bring her back." Touka corrected him.

Several of the soldiers that were closest to the Armoured titan latched on to its back, attempting to get close enough to take Eren away from Bertolt, only for Ymir to rip their wires apart with one arm, causing the soldiers to fall to the ground.

Taking advantage of the opening, Mikasa rushed in, slashing apart one of Ymir's eyes before switching targets onto Bertolt. The boy quickly took refuge beneath Reiner's jaw as he screamed "Reiner! Protect us!"

Reiner's hands guarded them, just in time to block Mikasa's blades from ripping through Bertolt's flesh.

"I'm going for his shoulder, can you keep Ymir off me?" Kaneki requested.

"Leave it to me!" Touka assured him as the two activated their kagune and launched themselves towards their respective targets.

"They'll kill Ymir if she doesn't do as they say! She doesn't have a choice!" Christa attempted to stand up to Mikasa.

The dark-haired girl appeared to think about it for a moment, but her answer remained the same, "There are only so many lives that I can value. My enemies forced me to choose those people years ago. So you shouldn't ask for my pity, because right now, I don't have the time to spare or room in my heart. Christa. Eren or Ymir? Which one? Or are you going to get in my way too?"

Ymir couldn't stand listening to Mikasa's threats any longer, so she prepared to attack the girl until Christa warned her against it "Ymir! Don't! You'll die!"

"No kidding, especially since, if you touch her, it won't only be her you deal with." Touka added on as she landed on Reiner's head, beside Mikasa. Her single wing stood out as a warning to Ymir not to try anything.

"Mikasa, I'll deal with her, you go to Eren." Touka instructed her, not taking her eyes off Ymir for a moment, "Kaneki! You're all clear! Rip him apart!"

Following Touka's signal, Kaneki landed on Reiner's neck and buried his kagune into the titans shoulder from four directions. _"It's tougher than I'd expected! Even for me, it'll take a while for me to rip off his arm!"_

"Now then, Ymir. It looks like Bertolt and the others are having a nice chat, so let's talk for a bit, ourselves." Touka suggested, noticing how Jean, Connie and Sasha had also arrived and were talking with Bertolt. "Since you can't speak very well in that form, you'll just have to listen."

Touka's words gave Ymir a bad feeling, she knew exactly how intelligent Touka was, frighteningly so. _"What's she planning?"_

"You appear to have joined forces with Reiner and Bertolt, why is that? According to Christa, they're threatening you… but I don't think they're threatening your life. I think they're threatening something that is far more important to you." Ymir lashed out and attempted to slash at Touka, only for her arm to be shredded by Touka's kagune shards. "It looks like I hit the nail on the head. In which case, in order to get you on board with our plans, I could threaten to kill her."

Touka pointed at Christa, who seemed completely in the dark about the current situation. Ymir instinctively attempted to protect Christa, despite knowing the futility of doing so, _"If she fires those projectiles, they'll rip straight through me and hit Historia. If she uses that attack like at the castle, there's no chance that either of us will survive!"_

"Touka, what are you talking about?! They'll kill her if she doesn't cooperate!" Christa pleaded with the ghoul.

"Christa, since when does Ymir view her life as something precious? As far as I've seen, the only thing she places special value on is you." Touka's words hit right on the mark and Christa knew it, forcing the girl to think properly about what Ymir had told her.

"Touka, grab them and jump now!" Kaneki yelled as he noticed what was heading towards them, "That commander…"

"He's leading a horde of titans straight towards us!" Hannes attempted to warn the young soldiers.

Immediately, Touka took action, tackling Christa and taking her with her as the ghoul retreated onto her horse. _"If I take Christa, Ymir will follow us."_

Unfortunately, Ymir was slow to respond and did not jump immediately, causing Kaneki to take emergency measures. Withdrawing from Reiner's shoulder, his kagune fused into a single large kagune that slammed into Ymir's body, knocking the titan to the ground. "You're in the way!"

Ymir followed after Christa and retreated to a safe distance as Reiner, with Kaneki in tow, clashed with the horde lead by Commander Erwin. Reiner shoulder-barged his way through many of the titans in a large cloud of steam, until he was forced to stop due to the sheer number of titans in his way.

Kaneki, however, launched himself into the sky with his kagune allowing him to evade danger, while simultaneously giving him a bird's eye view of the whole battlefield.

"The Survey Corps is over there with Ymir, but they still need Eren, so they'll charge in again. We still need to get Annie, but to do that, we need Reiner to move his arms." Kaneki racked his brain for a solution, but the only one that came to mind was not a pleasant one. _"If I use **that** now I would be able to, at the very least, cause Reiner some damage! But I can't control it!"_

True to his prediction, the human forces came rushing towards the titans. The titans began to spread out as they began targeting the humans, a large number of them remaining with Reiner. One of which managed to find the wounds inflicted by Kaneki's kagune on Reiner's shoulder, so it buried its fingers in the wounds and began pulling apart Reiner's arm, forcing Reiner to take aggressive action.

Reiner began forcing away the titans that were latched onto his body, punching and pushing his way free, leaving Bertolt and his captives more open to attack.

Mikasa was the first to attempt to take advantage of the opening, breaking through the titans with little effort. Upon reaching her target, she slashed at Bertolt with everything she had, something he was barely able to dodge.

Her momentum carrying her forward, Mikasa found herself unable to stop or change direction in time to avoid being grabbed by another titan. The titan's grip was tight, Mikasa could feel pain piercing through her body like a knife. Suddenly, the titan's grip came loose and she was able to escape. Looking back at the titan that had injured her, she found the titan mutilated beyond all recognition and a familiar figure landing in its place.

 _"I'm an idiot. I'm always repeating the same actions. I think that I shouldn't use a power that I can't control. Then, the solution is obvious, isn't it? I just have to control it."_

Kaneki could feel his kagune spreading from his back around his body. The feeling of scales forming around his body was a strange one, creeping up from his back around his neck onto his face.

Covering his human eye, the kagune reached Kaneki's forehead where an eye emerged and bird like mask formed on his face. As his mask formed, his kagune continued to spread around his shoulders and down his arms, fusing to his flesh as it did so.

Thus, the kakuja-covered ghoul began his assault on the titans before him, his first target being the titans that stood between himself and Reiner.

Within an instant, Kaneki found himself less than a metre from the titans, bewildered by his own speed.

The titans attempted to grab at Kaneki, only for their arms to be reduced to ribbons as his kagune lashed out. "This is rather difficult." He mused aloud as his kagune began forming around his hand, creating the shape of a large claw.

Staring down the titans in his path, he held his claw forward and ran full speed through the titans in his path. Ripping through the titans with his claw, he cleared a path for himself, finishing the titans off with his kagune as he ran through.

It did not take long for him to force his way through to Reiner's location, a trail of dead or wounded titans left in his wake. Launching himself towards Reiner's face, Kaneki buried his claw deep into the titan's armoured face, ripping through it like paper.

Ignoring Reiner's roars of pain, Kaneki moved towards Bertolt, "Bertolt, I advise you hand the two of them over, if you want to live that is."

Bertolt found himself unable to act, he couldn't turn to Reiner for help, he couldn't just give Eren and Annie away to this monster, nor could he do nothing. His mind went into a state of panic as he attempted to come up with a solution, causing him to lash out and slash at Kaneki's armoured chest. His blade shattered on contact with Kaneki's body, and Kaneki struck back, slashing Bertolt's chest lightly, leaving a shallow wound whilst releasing Eren and Annie's bonds.

Seizing the opening, Mikasa and Touka grabbed Eren and Annie respectively and mounted their horses as they attempted to retreat with the rest of the soldiers.

"I'll buy them some time." Kaneki prepared to strike at Reiner again, only for Reiner to suddenly become active again. Grabbing a nearby titan, he threw it at the retreating soldiers, landing in front of the soldiers in a loud crash.

As Reiner grabbed a second titan to throw, Bertolt tackled Kaneki from where he stood on Reiner's collarbone. With little effort, Kaneki forced Bertolt to let go and threw him out of the way.

Bertolt's body began giving off an electric aura and, with the usual lightning bolt, he transformed into the Colossal titan. It wasn't like the last time, the titan was not half-formed, it was the complete 60m titan.

Kaneki immediately ran away from Bertolt, remembering what Annie had told him about Bertolt's titan. Not that it mattered, Bertolt raised one of his legs, kicking several titans towards the soldiers as he walked forward, immediately catching up with the soldiers as he did so.

* * *

"Annie! Now is really not the best time for a nap!" Touka yelled as she attempted to wake the unconscious girl.

"Incoming!" a soldier yelled out as another titan was thrown towards them, knocking Annie and Touka from their horse.

Forcing herself to her feet, Touka took a look at her surroundings but, no matter where she looked, she saw the same thing, humans struggling against the overwhelming force of the titans.

"Fucking hell! This just keeps getting worse!" Touka yelled.

"Touka!" Kaneki called out to her as he, seemingly, appeared out of thin air.

"Kaneki! You're oka-!"Touka's relief was cut off as she took in the sight of Kaneki's appearance. His body was covered in dark red and black scales, looking like armour, and half of his face was hidden by the same bird-like mask that she had seen before. _"He's using his kakuja?"_

"Touka?" Kaneki could see fear in Touka's eyes when she was looking at him.

"Kaneki…" Slowly, Touka reached out to Kaneki and placed her hand on his chest, _"It's warm."_

"Touka." Kaneki placed his hand on Touka's. "Right now, I'm in control, it's okay."

"Kaneki, you're…" She moved her hands up to his face.

Kaneki tried to make sure Touka was comfortable before continuing, "I'm going to take care of Bertolt, can you make sure nobody else gets close?"

"What are you planning?" she asked, suspicious.

"Something stupid but necessary." Kaneki admitted.

"I see… then, I'll see you later, okay?" Touka smiled as she turned away from Kaneki and walked over to where Annie was lying on the ground.

"That's not fair. That's just cruel, Touka." Kaneki criticised as he turned to his opponent, the 60m titan, and sped towards them.

 _"I don't know what you're planning, Kaneki, but I know it's dangerous. Knowing you, you're gonna put yourself in the most danger, and you ask me to support you? Which of us is the cruel one?"_ Touka scolded the half-ghoul internally.

Kaneki reduced the distance between himself and Bertolt to zero in an instant, unleashing his kagune as he got close. He began slashing at Bertolt's shins as he attempted to climb up the titan's body.

It did not take long for Bertolt to counterattack, there was no chance of him managing to hit Kaneki with a normal physical attack, so he began releasing superheated steam from his entire body. Bertolt's attack did not reach very far from his body, due to his concern for the amount of damage he could do to Reiner and Ymir.

The superheated steam began burning away at Kaneki's body, the few areas not covered by his kakuja being the most effected. In response to this, the ghoul's kakuja began covering more of his body, leaving his entire body covered.

Bertolt wanted to stop using his steam, so he could move again, but he could still feel his flesh being slashed at. _"Impossible! How can he still be fighting?! He shouldn't even be able to stay anywhere near me!"_

Bertolt slowly increased the power behind his attack, creating an impenetrable force field around himself that forced the soldiers to maintain a distance of at least 20m, lest they be severely burned. But still, he could feel his body being slashed at.

 _"If he can stand this heat, why isn't he going for my nape?"_ The titan shifter pondered, feeling that the attacks only seemed to reach his torso and below.

"HAHAHAHA! IT BURNS! IT BURNS! IT BURNS! IT BURNS SO WELL! HAHAHAAA!" Kaneki screamed as he continued moving around Bertolt's body, ripping apart the titan's flesh as he did so.

It didn't take long for the ghoul's kakuja to completely take over his body and mind. The constant repetition of his kakuja being burned and regenerating, he had been using it too much.

 _"How is he still going!?"_ Bertolt was getting concerned, he couldn't keep his attack going for much longer and Kaneki still hadn't even slowed down, he was still going strong. _"Why can't I stop him?!"_

Bertolt, once again, upped the power of his attack in an attempt to stop Kaneki, burning even more of his own flesh away in exchange.

Kaneki's body moved purely on instinct, while he could still feel flesh beneath him, he would keep moving and keep slashing away. All of his senses were blinded by Bertolt's attacks, he couldn't even see what was in front of him, his eyes were covered by his kakuja and any eyes formed by his kagune were burned away as soon as they were formed.

"THERE!" Kaneki yelled out suddenly as his kagune formed three black centipedes that suddenly buried themselves deep into the titan's knee and began thrashing around, ripping apart bone and flesh alike.

It did not take long for the titan to lose balance, he quickly fell towards the ground. The majority of the flesh on his arms had evaporated, thereby rendering them useless as Bertolt tried to break his fall. Instead, it was his thin arms that ended up breaking beneath the incredible weight of his own body as he fell, face down into the dirt.

 _"Shit! How?! How is this possible?! What is he?!"_ Bertolt couldn't understand what was happening, _"I need to get out of here! My nape is open!"_

Bertolt emerged from the nape of his titan and tried to find Reiner, hoping to find some escape from the monster before him.

No sooner than he managed to completely remove himself from his titan's nape, did the very area he emerged from get ripped to shreds by something Bertolt couldn't see clearly.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Bertolt screamed as he attempted to retreat, only to find one of his legs ripped from his body as Kaneki, completely consumed by his kakuja, appeared in front of him.

"SHHHHHUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Kaneki ordered, his voice filled with madness, as he kicked Bertolt's body towards the swarm of titans around Reiner.

* * *

Touka had no idea what to make of the current situation, on the one hand, Kaneki had defeated the colossal titan, on the other, he had released a monster that's probably as dangerous as the one he just defeated.

"He actually took down Bertolt?!" Annie exclaimed, barely conscious.

"Annie, I need you to go and find Eren. Once you have him, can you make sure he doesn't do something stupid like trying to attack Reiner?"

"Probably not, but it looks like I have no choice, right?" Touka just nodded in response, "You're gonna try and help Kaneki, right? Can you do it?"

"Probably not, but it looks like I have no choice, right?" Touka repeated Annie's words.

"Touché. Don't die!" Annie ordered as she bit into her hand and her titan formed around her. Immediately, she set about finding Eren, and getting through the army of titans before her, leaving Touka to deal with Kaneki.

"Fucking hell, Kaneki. For once in your life, could you just stop being so willing to sacrifice yourself? It makes me feel inadequate, like I'm not trying hard enough." Touka asked quietly, slowly walking to where she could see Kaneki was.

As Touka came close to the collapsed and evaporating body of the colossal titan, she quickly found herself able to see a dark mass moving around at incredible speed.

"Here goes nothing…" Touka took a deep breath before yelling at the top of her lungs "HEY! BAKANEKI! OVER HERE, YOU GIANT IDIOT!"

Within an instant, Kaneki was in front of her, his entire body covered thickly in his kakuja, black scales, dark eyes forming in large numbers all over his body.

Touka was the first to attack, launching hundreds of shards at Kaneki, who remained motionless for a moment, seemingly waiting for the attack to get close.

"SOOOOO SLOW! AND SO WEAK!" Kaneki raised one arm and caught the first shard that got close, crushing it in his hand. His kagune then began to spread out from his body at an incredible speed, forming a shield in front of him that blocked all of Touka's projectiles.

"I see… so I'm weak, huh?" Touka couldn't help but feel frustrated at the notion, "Don't get cocky, you weakling!"

Touka's kagune began radiating electricity, while Kaneki's shield dispersed, only to make room for an even larger mass of kagune to form and dart towards Touka.

"Sorry, Kaneki." Touka apologised as she launched her lightning attack towards Kaneki. Kaneki's kagune offered little resistance as Touka's attack burned through the half-ghoul's body, leaving a large hole in his side.

His kagune began returning to his body, covering his wound slowly, but Kaneki was still not in control of his body. Of course, Touka took full advantage of the opening and rushed in close to Kaneki, launching as many shards as she could towards him as she ran.

Upon getting close to him, Touka grabbed at the kakuja scales on Kaneki's face and began ripping them off.

"Hey! Wake up, moron!" Touka yelled, punching Kaneki's cheek once she finally managed to rip a good amount of the scales from one half of his face.

"Hey, Touka! Open his mouth!" a voice from behind her called out, so she complied and forced Kaneki's mouth wide open.

"Sorry about this, man." The voice owner was revealed to be Jean as he put a flare gun in Kaneki's mouth and fired, causing the half ghoul to start coughing up blood and red smoke. "Touka, retreat for now!"

"I'm not leaving him like this!" Touka insisted.

"Neither will I! I'm telling you to keep a little distance in case this doesn't work!" Jean dragged the girl away.

"Why did you do that anyway?!"

"I didn't want to leave my friend like that and Armin said this could help." Jean explained, running a safe distance away from Kaneki, who was still coughing up blood and red smoke as he struggled to stand.

"Armin did?"

"Yeah, I figured that if his body was damaged from the inside rather than the outside, it would force him to focus on healing rather than creating those black scales. Touka, you're the expert, what do you think?" Armin asked as he rode up next to the two with his and Jean's horses.

"I guess, it's possible but I don't know too much about kakujas." Touka admitted.

"Kakujas? Is that different from normal ghouls?" Armin asked, taking the opportunity to learn more about what he was facing.

"Yeah, very much so. If you're facing a kakuja as a human, don't expect to be able to block any of his attacks, he'll rip you to pieces. Plus, his kagune is significantly stronger and covers his body, making it that much harder to damage him." Touka revealed, her eyes never leaving the coughing form before her.

"So, Armin, any plans if this doesn't work?" Jean asked, rather uneasy about getting any closer to Kaneki.

"Give me a minute!"

"How about… no more bad tasting plans… sound good?" Kaneki called out between coughing fits.

"Hey, are you okay? I mean, are you you right now?" Jean asked cautiously, while Touka rushed to Kaneki's side.

"Well… if I wasn't… I'd definitely kill you for firing a flare down my throat…" Kaneki pointed out, "You know what, I might do that anyway, that was horrible!"

"Hey, not my idea!" Jean defended as he ran to check on his friend.

"Yeah, but…blech" Kaneki threw up onto the ground beneath him, the flare canister being among the contents. "Touka, next time I have such a stupid idea, punch me in the face."

"With pleasure." Touka smiled as she rubbed Kaneki's back.

"Hate to ruin the moment but we need to get moving, otherwise Reiner will start moving again!" Armin called out, "Get on the horses and get a move on!"

"Right!" Touka and Jean helped Kaneki onto a horse, which Touka also chose to mount, while Jean jumped onto Armin's horse and they rode towards the rest of the soldiers.

"We need to find and secure Eren and Annie!" Armin reminded them.

"Come to think of it, where is Annie?" Kaneki asked, still not fully recovered.

"She's gone to find Eren!" Touka revealed, "But, as long as Reiner is still immobilised, she'll be fin-INCOMING!"

Suddenly, a titan came flying at them, landing in their path with a mighty crash that knocked the four soldiers from their horses.

"That son of a bitch! I'll kill him!" Kaneki declared as he stumbled around, his eyes locked on the, very mobile, Armoured titan, who had Bertolt resting on his collarbone.

"I'll punch you if you try! You can barely stand, let alone fight!" Touka blocked his path and tried to draw Kaneki's attention away from Reiner, "Right now, if you're gonna fight, fight that titan!"

True to her words, the titan that was thrown at them was on its feet and heading towards them. Realising this, Kaneki unleashed his kagune, considerably thinner and less well-formed than usual due to his state of exhaustion.

"Is that all you can manage?" Touka asked of the condition of his kagune, feeling considerably worn out herself.

"It seems that way. If things carry on like this, I doubt any of us will survive." Kaneki began scanning his surroundings, barely able to see very far due to the swarm of titans.

"Then, what should we do? We can't leave these two, they'll be eaten!" Touka pointed towards Jean and Armin, who had both been knocked from their horse and Jean had been knocked out entirely.

"I don't know! For now, we'll try and keep the titans off of those two!" Kaneki rushed towards the nearest titan and began to engage, Touka offering support from the ground.

* * *

"Eren!" Mikasa stumbled around, attempting to get to her childhood friend, _"Fuck! That hurts!"_

Mikasa was forcefully reminded of her injuries, being held in the grip of a titan had all but crushed her ribs. But still, she forced herself to move, quickly coming across Eren, whose eyes were wide with fear.

Eren lay on the ground nearby, his eyes wide with fear, not a common emotion for the boy to be exhibiting.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Mikasa followed Eren's gaze and found herself frozen in fear for a moment as a familiar titan approached. The first titan to enter the walls, the one that approached their house, the one that ate Carla Yeager had arrived.

The memory began replaying in the heads of Eren and Mikasa, while they were carried away by Hannes, they were forced to watch as the titan dug through the rubble of their home. Picking up the woman, the titan crushed her innards before biting the woman in half.

Stepping forwards, the titan reached out to grab at the two, Mikasa tried to shield Eren with her body instinctively, only for the titan's hand to be stopped before reaching them.

"Hannes?!" Eren identified their protector, who slashed at the titan, removing its thumb and leaving a large cut on the titan's palm before laughing.

"Hahaha! How often do you get a chance like this?! Just watch! I'll butcher this thing and avenge your mother's death!" Hannes screamed out in a mixture of fury and ecstasy. "Oh, how I've wanted to meet you again!"

"Hannes!" Eren called out, while Mikasa forced herself to her feet and readied her blades so that she could fight alongside Hannes, "Mikasa, don't! With those injuries…! Untie my arms!"

"Arms?" Mikasa noticed the rags holding Eren's arms behind his back and slowly knelt down beside Eren.

"Hurry! I have to be the one to settle this! I have to be the one to do this!" Eren screeched as Mikasa slipped her blade through his bonds and cut him free. Immediately, Eren was on his feet, ready to bite his hand and rip that titan apart.

"Eren, wait! We're trying to get you out of here!" Mikasa protested, but her injuries prevented her from stopping Eren.

"Finally." Eren looked down at his hand, his fingers still were not fully recovered, but he had no time to think of such matters. He bit down into his hand, his mind completely focused on the goal before him, to kill the titan that killed his mother. "Huh?! Why?! Why isn't it working?! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

In his fury, Eren's sense of pain seemed to dull and so, he kept biting, again and again. Each bite burying his teeth further into his hand, while Mikasa looked on in horror.

However, while Eren struggled to shift into titan form, Hannes continued fighting against the titan. In an attempt to put the smiling titan off-balance, he slashed at the back of its heel, over and over again until he managed to remove a large chunk that forced the titan to its knees.

He couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself and his skills after that, only for the titan to catch him in one hand. In a blind panic, Eren began biting at both of his hands until they were heavily bleeding and his mouth was covered in his own blood. "Right now, I've gotta become a titan, or it's all for nothing."

The titan slowly brought Hannes up to its face, gently putting the man's body in its mouth, only to suddenly slam its jaw shut. Hannes' body was ripped in two, his blood and innards spilling out onto the titan's chest as his life slowly slipped away.

Completely helpless, Eren and Mikasa looked on in despair at the scene before them. Eren began sobbing loudly, the sound of his screams of sorrow reaching far and wide, until his cries twisted into laughter.

"Hahahaha! I haven't changed at all! I'm still as useless as I ever was! Nothing changed!" Eren's screams began to die down as he descended into depression, tears flowing from his eyes like waterfalls. "Mum… I'm sorry… I still… can't do anything at all."

"Eren…" Mikasa's voice forced Eren to look up at her, where she awaited with a gentle smile, "That's not true."

"Eren, listen. I need to tell you something…" Mikasa spoke softly, "You've always been by my side… thank you."

Eren kept his focus on Mikasa, but he could still feel himself taking in his surroundings, it was as if time was slowing down for him. He could see everything, he could see that Kaneki and Touka were fighting with all they had against a couple of titans, while Armin attempted to shield Jean with his body as he flailed his sword in a blind panic at a titan that had snuck past the ghouls.

He could see the commander, kneeling on the ground, clutching the stump of his arm in pain while one of his subordinates stood at his back.

He could see Christa and Ymir, charging a large titan head-on, while Sasha and Connie snuck up behind it.

He could see Annie's titan form, in a combat stance, her fist hardened and buried in the face of another titan, the weaker titan's face being ripped apart by the forceful attack.

But, more clearly than anything else, he could see Mikasa. Her face held a gentle smile, but tears were beginning to form at the edge of her eyes as she spoke. "You showed me how to live with purpose… thank you."

"And you…" A light blush emerged on Mikasa's otherwise pale skin as she tugged at her scarf. But her eyes, which usually appeared calm and almost devoid of emotion, seemed to be filled with joy as she smiled at him. "you wrapped this scarf around me… thank you."

Mikasa slowly leaned forwards and gently kissed Eren's lips, before backing away, still smiling brightly, "Thank you, Eren. Thank you so much for everything you've done."

Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Eren rose to his feet, "I was right, I can't do anything… but, there is one thing I can do. I can wrap that thing around you, and I'll do that as many times as you want, now and forever."

His healing seemed to accelerate suddenly, his hands fully recovered as he clenched his fist. The smiling titan reached out to grab Eren slowly, but Eren remained firm and allowed the titan's arm to get close to him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Eren let out a loud roar as he punched at the titan, its palm receiving the blow. Instantly, the four other titan shifters felt a similar sensation, as if their bodies were out of their control, if only for a moment.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Eren roared out again as he threw another punch, while he did not hit anything, as he swung his fist, a titan appeared behind him. The new titan roared alongside Eren as it leapt through the air and tackled the smiling titan to the ground.

The titan's actions were utterly shocking, the only time any other titan had been reported to have attacked another titan involved a titan shifter. However, what followed was like nothing that had ever been reported, all of the regular titans began to ignore the humans, ghouls and titan shifters as they pounced upon the smiling titan.

What followed could only be described as a feeding frenzy, each and every titan attempting to force their way through as they tried to feast on the body of the titan as Eren carried Mikasa on his back, running as far from the feeding frenzy as he could.

"Why are they… they're eating that thing!" Mikasa thought aloud as she looked back at the titans.

* * *

"I don't get what's going on but let's go! This could be our only chance!" Connie called out as he mounted his horse.

"We have to hurry!" .Sasha agreed as she followed Connie's example.

"R-Right!" Christa hurried onto her horse, while Ymir remained motionless, observing the scene before her.

 _"So that's it! That's why Reiner and Bertolt were so desperate to get Eren! If that's the case, then the walls still have..."_ Ymir took a glance at Christa, _"…a future!"_

* * *

"Kaneki, is that what I think it is?" Touka asked, staring straight at the mass of titans.

"Yeah, it looks like it." Kaneki remembered what Annie had told him about this and he remembered what she called it, "The coordinate."

"The power to command titans… incredible."

"And dangerous. That power, one misstep and that's the end." Kaneki held the image of the titan's face within the wall. _"If he is heard by the titans inside the walls, they could break free, causing massive panic and widespread casualties."_

* * *

 _"Eren is still a novice, he hasn't been able to use his titan powers for very long. He has no idea what he's capable of. If he's not careful, he could wipe out all life on the planet."_ Annie felt rather troubled about the idea of Eren having such power.

 _"Wait a minute… Eren, the person who hates titans more than anything, has been given the power of the progenitor titan, to command titans?!"_ the female shifter couldn't help but be slightly amused by the irony of his situation.

* * *

 _"This is the worst! Of all the people who could possess the coordinate, it went to him!"_ Reiner rushed to capture Eren, _"We have to get it back! There's no doubt, the last person in this world who should have that… is you, Eren!"_

"STAY BACK!" Eren roared as he noticed Reiner and Bertolt heading towards him, "YOU HEAR ME, YOU BASTARDS?! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

The titans that had been feeding on the body of the smiling titan turned their attention onto Reiner and Bertolt, attacking them with all of their strength.

 _"This is bad! I can't protect Bertolt like this!"_ Reiner realised as he turned to retreat.

"What the…? The titans are…?" Eren couldn't understand what was happening, he could see everything but it was just so unbelievable. "Huh? Armin!"

"Eren! Mikasa!" Riding up beside Eren and Mikasa, a spare horse in tow, was Armin and Jean, Jean out cold on the back of Armin's horse. "Get on. Hurry!"

"DON'T LET THIS CHANCE SLIP AWAY! RETREAT!" Erwin ordered, leading his troops back towards the wall.

As the rest of the soldiers retreated, Ymir stopped and looked over at how Reiner and Bertolt were struggling to retreat away from the swarm of titans.

"Ymir?" Christa rode up next to Ymir.

"Hey, ugly! What're you doing? We need to hurry back!" Connie instructed, anxious to get as far away as possible.

Ymir looked back at Christa and reached out her hand to the girl and gently stroked her head with her index finger. "Sorry…"

Ymir suddenly turned away from Christa and began running towards Reiner and Bertolt, only to find her path suddenly blocked as a giant leg stood in her way.

Ymir looked upwards at the one who blocked her path, to see Annie, the female titan, shaking her head.

 _"I'm sorry, but I have to do this!"_ Ymir attempted to dodge around Annie's leg, but Annie had other plans.

 _"I know how you feel, but we can't!"_ Annie lightly kicked Ymir, not hard enough to do much damage, but enough to slow her down. Her next move was to grab the smaller titan, inadvertently ripping her arms from her body as she did so.

"Don't hurt her!" Christa pleaded, ignoring Connie's attempts to drag her away.

Holding the smaller titan under her arm, Annie let out a deafening screech that echoed for miles around, temporarily distracting the titans that chased after her former comrades.

"Hey, Annie! Could you not?! Some of us have sensitive ears you know?!" Touka yelled from below, rather worried as to what was taking so long. "Come on! We have to go back!"

 _"Yeah, that's right. We're going back."_ Annie turned away from the battlefield and began to retreat, Ymir in tow, _"I'm sorry, Ymir. But let me be a little bit selfish, I'm not letting you go off to die._ "

As they rode back towards the wall, even though they had completed their mission, they had retrieved Eren, not a single soldier thought of the battle as a victory. They had lost far too many, friends and family alike, to celebrate.

* * *

Darkness had fallen and atop the outer wall of the Shiganshina district were two titan shifters, exhausted beyond compare.

"Fuck… fuck… fuck…" Reiner curse between breaths, "This can't get any worse."

"Hey, Reiner… why do you think Annie helped us?" Bertolt asked, hesitant to bring up the topic of their former comrade.

"It's her way of saying goodbye." Reiner stated.

"Huh?"

"She helped us so that next time we see her, she'll be able to try and kill us with everything she has. We can't expect that to happen again." Reiner explained to his comrade, "She saved us so that she could kill us."

"So you had to be saved by your enemy? Pathetic!" an unfamiliar voice interrupted the two.

As Reiner turned to face the new person, he had to raise both his arms in defence as the interloper kicked him in the chest. His arms offered little protection from the powerful attack, shattering under the intense power.

"Is that all? I had expected more from the famous warriors in possession of the Armoured and Colossal titans. This is just pathetic!"

"Impossible…" Bertolt shivered in fear as he got a good look at the interloper, they were a lean young man, a little older than them. His hair was dark and messy and his eyes were black with red iris' that sent instinctive fear down Bertolt's spine.

"Another monster?!" Reiner exclaimed as he looked down at his own shattered arms.

"Monster?" the interloper approached them slowly, an arrogant grin on his face, "Is that any way to speak of your new comrade?"

"Comrade?!"

"The name's Ayato. Nice to meet you."

* * *

 **That was long! 11912 words! I didn't think it would end up being as long as it was :)  
I can't describe how tempting it was to not include Kaneki's kakuja, both because it was difficult to find a way to include it and because the idea of denying all the people who asked for more kakuja sounded amusing :P  
With regards to the Eremika kiss, I couldn't help but put that in, even though it didn't really change anything (yet)  
Annie didn't end up being as involved in the fights as I would've liked but, oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
** **Who would've guessed that Ayato would make an appearance?! And he's on their side?!  
Let me know what you thought of this chapter, I really worked hard on this one, but it didn't end up as good as I'd hoped :(  
The next chapter won't be anywhere near as high action as this was, it'll probably be the same for the chapter after that, depends on what I can come up with, any ideas would be appreciated :)  
**


	23. Recuperation & Information

"You know something? The 104th really has got the devil's luck." Jean observed as he wiped the blood from his face, "I can't believe we actually made it out of that alive."

Stood on the top of the wall, somewhere between Krovla and Trost districts, was the remainder of the combined forces of the Survey Corps, the Garrison, the Military Police and Anteiku, numbering in less than half of what they had started with.

"Now put her down slowly." A soldier instructed Eren as he helped the boy to lay Mikasa down on a stretcher, "You said she got shaken around on a horse for a while, even after her ribs were broken? We need to get her to doctor fast."

Mikasa looked up at Eren and, upon seeing the worried expression on his face, she attempted to ease his worries, "Eren. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry." Eren spoke softly.

"Commander?! Can you hear me, Commander?!" a group of soldiers surrounded the Survey Corps' leader as he collapsed to his knees, "He's about to pass out!"

"For fuck's sake, just get him onto a wagon!" a certain half-breed ghoul scolded the soldiers as he slung the injured man over his shoulder as he walked towards a wagon, "If you won't, I will!"

"You shouldn't push yourself." Touka advised as she watched the half-ghoul place the Commander onto the back of a wagon, "With all that's happened, I don't think anyone would blame you for taking a break."

"I guess, but still…"

"You bitch!" Ymir's screaming voice pierced the air, shortly followed by the sound of a loud slap, "Why did you interfere?!"

Looking towards the girl's location, the ghouls were met by the sight of Ymir, looking extremely angry at Annie, who had a red mark across her cheek.

"I didn't like the idea of you running off to die." Annie spoke calmly, completely ignoring Ymir's rage.

"That's not your decision to make!" Ymir snapped at the girl.

"I know, but I still made it-" Annie and Ymir were suddenly forced to keel over as they felt a heavy hit to their guts.

Looking at the culprit, they saw Touka, her arms crossed and a grumpy look on her face, "You two really need to calm down, or I'll start using force."

"You already did, though!" the two titan shifters exclaimed together.

"Oh, please, that much barely counts as anything." Touka waved them off, "Besides, Ymir, don't you think you should explain yourself?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you-" "I wasn't talking about me." Touka interrupted as she pointed behind Ymir, to where a small blonde girl was watching them with tears in her eyes.

"Historia." Ymir realised her situation as she ran off towards the short girl.

"Historia?" Touka asked aloud to nobody in particular, "Whatever, how are the others?"

"Why'd you hit me too?" Annie ignored Touka's question, still clutching her gut in pain.

"Because you were acting stupid! I get why you took Ymir back with us, but you could have gone about explaining it better, couldn't you?"

"Touka's right, Annie." Kaneki joined in, "She probably sees us more as the enemy now, we took away her ability to choose how she wants to live her life."

"I guess, but I stand by my choice." Annie insisted, "I didn't want to let her run off to die."

"Even so, we can't force people to become our allies, nor can we force them to see Reiner and Bertolt as the enemies. Ymir made her choice as to which side she wanted to stand on, no matter how painful it may be." Kaneki explained calmly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Annie relented.

"Now, as for Eren, we need to keep a much closer eye on him from now on." Kaneki pointed out.

"Right, and since Reiner and Bertolt have already seen it, they'll want him even more." Touka agreed.

"But, there's something not right about this." Annie began, looking perplexed, "Eren was able to command the titans, but that should be impossible."

"Why? If he has the power of the founding titan, he should be able to, right?"

"No, there is a condition to use that power, you must be of royal blood." Annie explained, causing further confusion in the minds of the ghouls.

"Then, is Eren…?" "Kaneki! C'mere!" Jean called out to his friend as he beckoned him over.

"What's wrong, Jean?" Kaneki asked as he approached the group of Jean, Eren, Connie and Armin.

"We need you guys' info." Jean stated as he left the explaining to Armin.

"We think Eren manipulated those titans into attacking the Armoured titan and the one that ate Hannes. What do you think?" Armin asked the three members of Anteiku.

"Yeah, you've pretty much got it... As unbelievable as it sounds, it looks like Eren has the power to control titans within him." Annie admitted.

"That means that… Eren, it's certainly a tough spot to be in, but… to get you back, the commander lost an arm, Mikasa's ribs got smashed and over 60% of our soldiers died, including your friend Hannes. Whether you're really worth that kind of price, it's something that I still don't know." Jean kept his eyes locked on Eren's as he spoke calmly, "As to whether the people who were killed for you died for nothing…well, that depends on you now, doesn't it? And whether you can use that power of yours?"

"…You sure got preachy after you joined the Survey Corps, didn't you?" Eren groaned.

"Huh?! What about you? You've just turned into an indecisive whiner!" Jean countered.

"No, Jean, he's right. It's creepy how serious and responsible you got all of a sudden." Connie backed Eren up.

"You still **look** like a bad guy, though." Armin added on.

"You bastards… hey, Kaneki! Give me a hand, would you?" Jean turned to his friend for assistance.

"Well, now that I think about it… you did sound a little preachy when we were speaking up on top of the wall." Kaneki recalled their earlier conversation.

"Seriously?! You too?!"

"Thanks, Jean." Eren's face was focused as he clenched his fist hard. "Thanks to you, I don't think I have to hesitate anymore. I just need to control my ability. I'll control the titans. I'll seal the hole in Wall Maria."

"You won't be doing it alone, you can expect the full power of Anteiku to back you up." Kaneki assured him as he put his hand on Eren's shoulder.

"I'm going to catch Reiner and Bertolt and make them pay. I'll make sure the deaths of Hannes and everyone else were not in vain. That's how I'll repay them for what they've done." Eren declared confidently.

Thus, the soldiers began to retreat to their respective bases to recover from their wounds, while Anteiku headed towards their supply-filled hideout as they waited for the others to recover.

* * *

"Your coffee really is the best!" Annie exclaimed towards her friend, who was sat, drinking a cup of her own coffee as she looked out of a window.

"Better than yours, at least." Touka made reference to when Annie had attempted to make coffee, resulting in a strange concoction that tasted like sick, "How you managed to make that is a mystery to me."

"Hey! I was complimenting you, don't insult me!" Annie snapped at the girl.

"I wasn't insulting you, I was insulting your coffee." Touka defended calmly, still looking out of the window, idly.

"That's just the s-" "Hey! What's with the bag of guns up here!" an excited voice from upstairs yelled down.

"Don't play with those!" Annie yelled as she ran upstairs.

"It looks like she found the guns." Kaneki observed, sat at a small table, reading a book.

"It seems like it. As long as she doesn't go nuts with them, it should be fine to let her have some fun." Touka suggested, not too interested in the subject.

*BANG* *SHATTER*

Touka left her spot as she began walking upstairs, "Ymir… if I come up there and find that you've shot out a window, I'll kill you!"

"Then don't come upstairs!" Ymir responded from upstairs. The female titan shifter had gone with them to their hideout, not feeling particularly comfortable with staying with the Survey Corps. Since she had done so, everything she had found had fascinated her, barely giving the others a moment of piece and quiet.

Closing his book, Kaneki began walking around their hideout. "It's hard to believe this is the same dusty hovel it was a few days ago."

The dusty bar had been cleaned thoroughly, the chairs and tables had been spread out over the bar area while the large amount of gas tanks, the spare ODM gear sets and the gas refilling station had been moved into one of the back rooms.

 _"_ _They should be okay by now."_ Kaneki headed upstairs, where he found Touka pinching Ymir's ear tightly as the girl struggled in pain, a hole in one of the windows and Annie attempting to clear up the shattered glass.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! You're ripping my ear of!" Ymir pleaded.

"You deserve it for shooting out the window!" Touka retorted, considerably angry at the girl.

"Annie, you need to hide them better, otherwise she'll start playing with them." Kaneki warned Annie, completely ignoring Ymir's screaming as he helped Annie clean up the shattered glass.

"Yeah, I get it." Annie waved him off.

"By the way, Touka, I think I'll head out and see how the others are doing, today." Kaneki informed her as he gathered the glass with a dustpan and brush, "They should be mostly recovered by now, so we should check on them."

"Yeah, I guess so. Plus, we need to keep an eye on Eren too." Touka agreed as she let go of Ymir.

"Anyone else coming? Or should I go alone?" Kaneki offered, finishing up cleaning.

"I'm good. I need to try and fix this window, or at least cover it up." Annie refused.

"I'm good for the moment, I have some business to take care of." Touka gave Kaneki a look that told him everything he needed to know. _"Food, huh?"_

"I'm not gonna go, either." Ymir offered no excuse, but Kaneki knew why, _"So, she's still scared of seeing her?"_

"I'll give them your regards." Kaneki waved as he put on his uniform and ODM gear before heading out of the door.

"Wait!" Touka called him back and wrapped her arms around Kaneki, "Don't get careless."

"I won't, I'll just check what the current situation is, then I'll come back." Kaneki assured her as he gently stroked her head.

"Get a room or get lost!" Ymir yelled at the two from behind, causing the two to separate quickly.

"See you later."

"Yeah, bye." The two ghouls spoke quickly as Kaneki left quickly to get to the nearest city while Touka returned inside, where she proceeded to put Ymir through as much pain as she could.

* * *

"I'm looking for Commander Erwin or Section Commander Hange." Kaneki asked the first Survey Corps soldier he came across.

"Hange's up ahead a bit, just head up this road a bit and you can catch up with her." The soldier informed him as he pointed up the road.

"Thanks!" Kaneki thanked the soldier as he began running up the street. Until he was able to see the high-ranking officer of the Survey Corps, sat in the back of a carriage with a couple of other soldiers.

Using his ODM gear, he caught up with her and landed in the back of the carriage, just behind the woman as he greeted her. "How's it going?"

"Kaneki?!" One of the accompanying soldiers was a soldier that Kaneki knew well.

"Oh, Connie? You're here too?"

"What are you doing here, Eyepatch?" Hange asked the ghoul.

"I wanted to see what was happening around here. We've been trying to lay low since we got back, so we're a bit out of the loop." Kaneki responded honestly.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you anyway. I need to confirm a theory with you." Hange swiftly accepted the current situation.

"Fair enough, I'm listening." Kaneki started listening, knowing that there was a lot of information that he had yet to tell the others.

"We found a titan in Ragako village…"

"Oh? Where the attack started?"

"Indeed, and that titan bared a striking resemblance to Connie's mother, one of the people of that village, your thoughts?"

"It seems as though Erwin didn't get a chance to tell you, but what you've theorised is correct. Titans are humans." Kaneki informed them carefully, "Come to think of it, where is Erwin?"

"He still hasn't woken up. As for the current situation, we're still trying to confirm the presence of any further titans within Wall Rose. The supplies for the evacuees will only last two more days."

"Then, there's not much we would be able to do to help with that. What about Eren and the others?" Kaneki asked, curious as to the whereabouts of his friends.

"Eren is with the rest of the members of the 104th, who are now part of Levi's squad. They're currently following your example and lying low for the moment, hiding in a safe location."

"I see. Well, if it gets too dangerous, you can send them to us and we'll protect them." Kaneki assured the woman.

"Unfortunately, I am unclear as to where your hideout is, care to share?" Hange asked, hoping to ensure that they could keep Anteiku close.

"I guess, they shouldn't mind too much." Kaneki guessed, "But, I know how to get there, not where it is on a map."

"That's fine, then I'll just accompany you as you return there." Hange announced much to the dismay of one of her subordinates.

"Hange, are you serious?! What if the worst should happen?!"

"Relax, Moblit, if that's the case, we would know for certain whether they are allies or enemies." Hange spoke calmly, "In any case, this is us showing our faith in them if I go alone."

"I'll try to return her alive." Kaneki smiled at the soldier.

"Mind if I tag along?" Connie asked, "I wanna talk with Ymir and the others a bit."

"I don't mind but, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I have some questions that needed answering." Connie insisted.

"If you say so." Kaneki relented.

"Well, let's grab some horses and some supplies. Then we'll go." Hange declared, "A sleepover with a group of inhumans, how fun!"

"Wait, you want to stay? We don't have many beds and it's not exactly high-quality accommodation." Kaneki warned as he remembered the window Ymir had broken earlier.

"I don't mind about that, do you, Connie? No? Good." She didn't wait to hear Connie's response, instead turning to the one driving, "Hey! Change of plans, head for the barracks, please!"

"I guess we don't get much of a say, do we?" Kaneki asked his friend.

"Looks that way." Connie chuckled.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight, you brought these two soldiers to our hideout, without even a word of warning?" Annie asked, positively fuming, "And now, you're expecting us to let them stay here for the night?"

"Basically." Kaneki admitted, causing Annie to kick him in the shin. "You idiot!"

"This place is surprisingly well-kept. Not to Levi's standards, but still…" Hange began exploring around the bar area.

"Don't just come in!" Annie scolded the woman, "Why is Touka never here when I need her?"

"Rabbit isn't here?" Hange asked as she wandered into one of the back rooms, "WHAT THE HELL?! WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THIS EQUIPMENT?!"

"Think of it as a generous donation by the Military Police, albeit one they weren't aware of." Annie admitted, feeling rather proud of herself.

"But... I've seen military outposts with less equipment than this!" Hange still appeared in shock as she looked through the masses of equipment that they held.

"Now that I think about it, where's Ymir?" Kaneki asked his blonde friend.

"She should still be upstairs…"

"Did you hide the guns like I told you?" Kaneki asked, causing his friend to freeze up for a moment before running upstairs as if her life depended on it, causing Kaneki to sigh loudly, "Evidently not."

"Is something wrong?" Connie asked, trying his best to adapt to his current situation.

"No, it should be fine, just give me a moment." Kaneki left his guests for a moment before jumping to the top of the stairs and rushing to where he knew Ymir would be.

The scene that greeted him was Ymir running around the room holding a small handgun, attempting to avoid Annie. Sticking his leg out, Kaneki tripped Ymir up, allowing Annie to pounce on her and put the girl into a submission hold. Her arm outstretched, Kaneki bent down and took the gun from Ymir's hand, "Ymir, could you stop playing with these? I don't want to have another broken window."

Ymir offered no response to him, too focused on the pain Annie was putting her through.

"You've got it rather rough, don't you?" Hange observed as she came upstairs, suddenly grateful for her subordinates cooperative behaviour.

"Hange, you can stay in that room with Annie, Connie, you're with me in that room. Annie, did you get the stuff to fix the window?" Kaneki asked, to which Annie nodded, still keeping Ymir in a hold, "Then, Ymir can fix that window herself, and she's staying in here tonight."

"Huh?! That's no fair! Annie said she was going to fix it!" Ymir complained.

"What's unfair about it? You broke the window, so you should fix it yourself. Think of staying in this room as motivation to do a good job."

"But that's…" Ymir attempted to complain, but had no response good enough to convince the half-ghoul.

"Annie, let her go and get the supplies she needs so she can get started, now." Kaneki instructed his voice calm but firm.

Annie complied, rushing out of the room quickly, leaving Kaneki to grab the bag of guns and carry them downstairs so he could keep an eye on them.

"Now, I'll make some coffee, so go and sit down, you two." Kaneki spoke to his guests.

"U-Umm… Am I the only one who feels like this is more like a home than a hideout for the famous Anteiku?" Connie asked his superior as he watched Kaneki prepare four cups of coffee.

"Yeah… I suppose so." Hange agreed as she took a seat and waited as Kaneki brought the four cups of coffee. Placing them on the table, Kaneki took a seat opposite Hange and Connie.

"Annie, when you're done, come join us!" Kaneki called out to the blonde girl.

"Okay, just give me a minute and I'll be with you!" Annie responded as she carried some repair supplies up to Ymir.

"Alright then, I assume you have some questions for us?" Kaneki asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"More than I can count, but I'll start at the basics, you and Kirishima Touka, what are you?" Hange asked casually.

"We are ghouls." Kaneki activated his kakugan and unleashed a single kagune before continuing, "In exchange for strength beyond the limits of humans and our kagune, we are unable to live the life of a normal human being. Unless we feed on the flesh of humans, we will be overwhelmed by our appetites and go insane."

Struggling to restrain her curiosity, Hange stuck to what she needed to know, "I see, then, next question, what do you know of our enemy?"

"Personally, not much, but Annie does, so you'll just have to wait for her."

"No, it's fine, I'm here." Annie chimed in as she took a seat next to Kaneki, "Thanks for the coffee."

"Back to the topic at hand, what do you know of our enemies?" Hange tried to keep the conversation on topic.

"More than you, I know the total number of titan shifters, I know what their objective is in attacking the walls, and I know what it's like beyond the walls."

"Do you intend to share said information?"

"I will, if you be-ow!" Annie was interrupted as Kaneki kicked her chair over, knocking the girl to the ground.

"Stop being difficult and start talking." Kaneki berated the girl.

"Fine, I get it. You've been around Touka too much, violent bastard." Annie complained as she sat back down, "In total, there are nine titan shifters, each with their own name. The Colossal, the Armoured, the Female, the Jaws, the Cart, the Beast, the Attack, the Warhammer and the Founding titan."

"And of those titans, which are our allies and enemies?"

"Currently, as far as I know, the only titan shifters on this side of the wall are myself, Ymir and Eren. I possess the Female titan, Ymir holds the Jaws titan and Eren, if I'm not mistaken has two shifter abilities, the Attack titan and the Founding titan."

"So that means that we have to deal with the other five shifters as our enemies?" Hange asked, somewhat afraid of facing five shifters at once.

"No, the Warhammer titan will, most likely, not be attacking us." Annie corrected, "They just won't, I don't know why, they just won't."

"And you expect me to trust that?"

"You can believe what you like, I am just telling you what I know. Another example of what I know, the enemy is after the power of the Founding titan within Eren that can command all titans. It is for that purpose that I, Reiner, Bertolt and the holder of the Jaws titan were sent here."

"The current holder of the Jaws titan is Ymir, correct? Was she one of your comrades?"

"No, she was not. She stole the power from my former comrade."

"Stole it? How?"

"By eating him. If an ordinary titan eats a shifter, they gain the power of that shifter." Annie announced the method by which the power of the titans was transferred.

"I see… my next question relates to you in particular, Annie. Why did you decide to join Anteiku and betray your former comrades?"

"If we had followed the original plan to take the Founding titan, then I probably wouldn't have, but Ymir screwed up that plan by eating our leader. We were forced to stay here for five years, getting to know the very people we hurt so badly. I found myself searching for an escape and I found one during the Trost operation, when myself and Reiner fought against him." Annie pointed towards her white-haired friend.

"You fought with Kaneki?!" Connie asked, somewhat engrossed in Annie's story.

"Yeah, and we lost. It took all we had just to get away from him." Annie shivered as she remembered the feeling of the centipede-like kagune ripping through her hardened arms and burying themselves into her eyes.

"Is that so? But is it that amazing? Why would you not have joined with Eren when you discovered he had a titan power?"

"Eren and Kaneki can't be compared in terms of ability, you clearly haven't seen his full power."

"I have not, but I have read the reports."

"Then you should be aware of what he's capable of!"

"Er-erm Annie, you're embarrassing me." Kaneki stopped the girl, a light pink dusting his cheeks.

"Right, sorry." Annie apologised.

"Then, do you have any other questions?" Kaneki asked his guests.

"What about Historia Reiss? How does she fit into the equation?"

"I don't know, all I know is that she has some connection to the church." Annie admitted.

"That's Christa's real name, right?" Kaneki asked, somewhat out of the loop.

"Yeah."

"I'll get Ymir, she probably has a better idea about who Historia is." Kaneki stated as he went upstairs to get the female shifter.

* * *

"I'm here, I'm here, what do you want now?" Ymir complained as she followed Kaneki downstairs.

"Sorry to interrupt your hard work but, I would like to know about Historia Reiss." Hange asked as Ymir took a seat.

"Not happening." Ymir attempted to leave, until Annie forced her back into her chair.

"Start talking." Annie ordered, ready to punch Ymir if she didn't cooperate.

"It was just bad luck." Ymir began her explanation, "Back when I used to 'borrow' people's valuables to survive, I heard a story in a church in the interior about a young girl. In line to inherit a real high-up position, she was a relative by blood, but she was the daughter of a mistress, so there was a dispute over whether be could be heir. They had two options, either kill her or send her away to live a quiet life under a fake name."

"It seems that they went with the latter option." Hange observed.

"Yeah, and that's the story of how that young girl was driven into the military, the young girl named Historia Reiss."

"I see, that didn't end up shed any light on why the Reiss family are the ones who are allowed to know the secrets of the wall." Hange appeared disappointed for a moment before perking up, "Oh well! I still got more than I had expected when I came out here!"

"Sorry to interrupt, but there's something I have to know." Connie chimed in, sounding rather desperate, "Ymir, when I told you about my mum, you tried to convince me I was crazy, why did you do that?"

"…Why would I tell you the truth, in that situation?" Ymir asked after some consideration, "I could've told you the truth, and reveal that your mother had become the very thing you hate most in this world with no way of reverting back to human form. Or I could've told a small lie that meant that you could continue fighting, without being distracted by the fate of your mother. Which would you choose?"

"This is far beyond a little lie!" Connie yelled.

"Why are you even upset about this?! You ended up finding out anyway!"

"Because you lied to me!"

"Stop screaming, idiots!" a familiar voice from the entrance scolded them, "Seriously! I can't leave you alone for a little while without you attempting to scream down the building! What is wrong with you people?!"

Walking through the doorway was Kirishima Touka, considerably irritated.

"It's his faul-" "I don't care! Just shut up!" Touka silenced Ymir.

"Welcome back." Kaneki greeted the girl with a smile.

"I don't know why we have so many people here, but it's bad manners to come into someone's home and start screaming." Touka glared at Connie and Ymir, "If you understand that, shut up!"

"She's right, I think that's enough for today." Kaneki agreed as he began clearing away everyone's coffee cups, "Annie, if you would."

"Right, follow me, you two." Annie instructed as she led the two guests up to their rooms.

"Did you get what you went out for?" Kaneki asked Touka once the others were out of earshot.

"Yeah, I found one, it's over there." Touka pointed out of the door, "Don't ask where I got it from."

"Understood… Thank you, Touka." Kaneki gave Touka a hug, knowing what she must've done to obtain their food.

"By the way… I would like an explanation as to why Connie and Hange are here." Kaneki felt somewhat threatened by the girl's words, "It had better be a good reason or you know what will happen, right?"

"Ah… eer… it's erm…" Kaneki struggled to form a coherent sentence as he slowly backed away from Touka.

"It seems that you know you don't have a good enough reason. That means…" The female ghoul trailed off as she punched the half-ghoul in the stomach with all her strength.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the top of the outer gate of the Shiganshina district stood a group of four individuals, discussing their next course of action.

"Do you understand, Ayato?" their leader asked.

"So, you're going to take us to the outer city and we are to cause as much chaos as we can?" the dark-haired ghoul confirmed, looking at the blonde, bearded man.

"Pretty much, we need to draw them out and force them to come to us."

"Be careful, there are monsters just like you on the other side of the wall." Reiner warned the ghoul.

"I need to be more careful about what you're sending me in there with." Ayato corrected the warrior, looking down to the bottom of the wall.

"As long as you don't attack them, they'll pay you no mind." The leader assured the ghoul, "If you can, try to return alive. Your strength still can be useful to us."

"Shut your mouth or I'll rip it off." Ayato threatened the man.

"T-They shouldn't have weapons that can harm you so, all you need to be careful of are the titan shifters and others like you." Bertolt attempted to calm the ghoul down.

"Well, for the strongest ghoul, I doubt they pose much of a threat." The blonde man's words caused Ayato to tense up.

"You know what will happen if you betray me." Ayato activated his kakugan and glared at the three men, ready to kill them at a moment's notice.

"And you know what will happen if you betray us, don't you? There are many in our military who doubt your loyalty to Marley. So you had better bring us some results." The leader's voice was cold as he threatened Ayato.

"War-Chief Zeke…" a voice interrupted from behind them, revealing itself to be a 4m titan that climbed its way to the top of the wall, "Preparations are complete, we can go whenever you're ready."

"Excellent work, Pieck." Zeke, the leader, complimented the titan before turning to Ayato, "I assume you're ready?"

"Of course. You just focus on getting us there." Ayato instructed as he jumped onto the titans back and rode it down to the bottom of the wall, where a large cart awaited them.

The titan grabbed the cart and began to pull it along behind her, while Ayato sat on top of the cart, a sour expression on his face as he thought about what was inside the cart.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

 **This wasn't the most exciting chapter I've written, but whatever, it helped set up for the next chapters :P  
In case anyone has forgotten about the bar, I suggest you read chapter 15, "Plans For The Future"  
I am honestly tempted to do something like in re 125, let me know what you think of that idea  
I ended up doing another Ayato cliffhanger, this time I added Pieck and Zeke :P  
What do you think is happening to Ayato? Why is he on their side? What is in the cart? Why did he apologise? When will he learn that Kaneki and Touka are his enemies? How will he react? It's so fun to think about! :D  
If there is anything you want me put in or any questions you have about the story, let me know :)  
**


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